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July 24 (UPI) — A Georgia teenager changed his plea to guilty Friday in the shooting deaths of four people at Apalachee High School in 2024.

Colt Gray, 16, entered a non-negotiated plea of guilty to 55 charges, including malice murder, aggravated battery and aggravated assault, CBS News reported. He was charged as an adult.

A non-negotiated plea means that though he’s changed his plea to guilty, he has not made a deal with prosecutors concerning his sentencing.

The judge in the case will determine his sentence, which ranges from life with parole to life without parole. The defense and prosecutors will each present a case for their preferred sentence, ABC News reported.

Gray is accused of fatally shooting two students — Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn — and two teachers — Richard Aspinwall and Cristina Irmie — at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., in 2024, when he was 14 years old. He’s also accused of injuring nine others in the shooting.

Breanna Schermerhorn, Mason’s mother, presented a victim impact statement Friday in court, saying her son “was so much more than victim.”

“Mason was kind, compassionate, funny and fiercely protective of others,” she said. “As a child with exceptional needs, he understood what it felt like to struggle and be overlooked by others. Instead of becoming bitter, he became an advocate.”

Breanna Schermerhorn said Gray knew that the shooting was wrong and would impact countless lives.

“I had no doubt in my mind if Cole had actually attended school as he should have, that Mason would have befriended him,” she said.

Prosecutors said Colt Cray used an AR-style rifle his father, Colin Gray, gave to him for Christmas despite being warned by sheriff’s deputies that his son had threatened an attack at school.

In May, a jury found him guilty of 29 charges, including two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of involuntary manslaughter. Colin Gray was the first adult charged in Georgia in connection with a school shooting by their child.

A man who allegedly sent Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray a profane message that included a racist slur has been fired after social media users figured out where he worked.

On Monday, the former Sparks player posted a screenshot on her Instagram Story of a DM she said she received following her team’s loss to the Indiana Fever on Sunday.

“People act like we make this s— up,” Gray wrote. “And the audacity to tell us as athletes to ‘shut up and dribble.’”

Her post included the sender’s user handle. Folks on social media discovered that the man worked for Hilton Grand Vacations and pressured the company to punish him for his alleged misdeed. Initially, the company wrote on X that it was investigating the matter and would “take appropriate action based on the findings of our review.”

Hours later, Hilton Grand Vacations posted that the person allegedly responsible for the racist message “is no longer with the company.”

“His behavior was in violation of multiple company policies and does not reflect our company’s values in any way,” Hilton Grand Vacations stated.

The Aces posted a statement Wednesday on X condemning the messages directed at Gray and offering support for those who stand up against such attacks.

“We stand behind those who have the courage to speak up for themselves,” the organization stated. “We are united with anyone who has been targeted by this type of unacceptable behavior.

“We stand with organizations, like Hilton Grand Vacations, that hold individuals accountable for racist conduct. We commend them for the swift manner in which they acted in addressing this manner.”

The WNBA reposted the Aces’ statement and said it “stands with Chelsea and every member of our league.”

“We unequivocally condemn racism and all forms of hate,” the league wrote. “There is no place for this behavior in sports or anywhere, and we remain committed to protecting the players and fostering an environment built on respect and inclusion.”

As part of the collective bargaining agreement reached in March, the WNBA introduced a no-hate campaign that included a stronger fan code of conduct that specifies punishments for online abuse of players and other inappropriate behaviors.

Still, Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas told reporters last month that she received death threats and racist abuse after an on-court incident in which her fist pressed into Fever star Caitlin Clark’s throat while they were scrambling for the ball. No foul was called at the time, but the WNBA later assessed Thomas a Flagrant 2 foul and suspended her for a game.

Speaking to reporters June 30, Thomas called out the league and commissioner Cathy Engelbert for not doing more to protect players off the court.

“Time and time again, players are going through this and the league remains silent,” Thomas said. “I’m sick and tired of it. It’s time for them to step up and have our backs.”

Engelbert released a statement following Thomas’ comments.

“We are aware of Alyssa Thomas’ comments, and what she and her teammates have experienced is completely unacceptable and not representative of the WNBA community,” the commissioner said. “The league and our security team have been in contact with the Phoenix Mercury organization and remain committed to protecting all players.”

During last weekend’s Fever-Aces game, Gray drew a foul on Clark while driving to the basket, but her elbow also appeared to make contact with the Indiana star’s stomach. Clark doubled over after the whistle in what some said appeared to be an attempt to get a foul called on Gray, but none was called.

The racist message received by Gray did not appear to mention Clark or any specific incident.

Willson Contreras and Romy Gonzalez homered to back the superb pitching of Sonny Gray, who gave up one run and four hits in six innings of the Boston Red Sox’s 8-1 win over the Angels on Saturday night at Angel Stadium.

Wilyer Abreu added a two-run double, and relievers Jovani Morán, Greg Weissert and Alec Gamboa combined for three hitless innings for the Red Sox (39-48), who have won seven of nine games. The Angels (36-54) have lost five straight and 11 of 17 since June 17.

Gray (10-1) induced two of Boston’s three double-play grounders, struck out seven and walked one. The 36-year-old right-hander has six straight quality starts since May 30, a stretch in which he’s gone 5-0 with a 1.97 ERA.

Though he leads the American League in wins and ranks second with a 2.61 ERA, Gray was not named to the AL All-Star team Saturday.

Angels starter Sam Aldegheri (3-4) walked two ahead of Contreras’ 19th homer, a 421-foot blast to left-center that gave Boston a 3-0 lead in the first.

Josh Lowe’s one-out homer pulled the Angels to within 3-1 in the second. Jo Adell walked, and Wade Meckler singled, but Gray struck out Donovan Walton and Tyler Heineman to escape the jam.

Aldegheri did not give up a hit in the second, third and fourth, but with his pitch count at 88, he was pulled in favor of left-hander Samy Natera Jr., who gave up one run in his first nine big-league games.

Anthony Seigler led off the fifth with a double, Ceddanne Rafaela walked, and Abreu slammed a two-run double off the right-field wall for a 5-1 lead.

Gonzalez, robbed of a potential first-inning homer when Adell made a leaping catch of his drive above the wall in right, followed with a towering, 368-foot fly that cleared the short left-field wall for his first homer of the season and a 7-1 lead. Rafaela’s RBI single in the eighth made it 8-1.

Up next: Red Sox LHP Ranger Suarez (4-3, 2.94 ERA) will oppose Angels RHP Ryan Johnson (1-3, 7.40) in Sunday night’s series finale.

Finn Russell will not feature in Scotland’s opening Nations Championship match of the summer series but could feature against South Africa, says head coach Gregor Townsend, who welcomes back Jonny Gray.

Fly-half Russell, 33, has not fully recovered from the calf injury that kept him out of the latter part of Bath’s domestic campaign and was not considered for the match at Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes in Cordoba on Saturday (20:10 BST). The Scots face the Springboks in Pretoria on 11 July then Fiji at Murrayfield on 18 July.

Tom Jordan starts at 10 in Russell’s absence, with Fergus Burke among the replacements.

Gray returns against the Pumas, having missed this year’s Six Nations, while fellow lock Scott Cummings, 29, and prop Pierre Schoeman, 32, will win their 50th caps.

“Great for [Jonny Gray] to be back in the squad,” said Townsend. “Since his move to Perpignan, he’s played very well so his form’s been rewarded with this opportunity. It’s nice obviously nice that him and Scott Cummings are playing together.

“Jonny was at Glasgow when Scott came through as an 18-year-old. It will be great to see them both back int he second row again.”

Overall, the XV in Cordoba shows eight personnel changes to the team that finished the Six Nations with defeat to Ireland in Dublin in mid-March.

Full-back Kyle Rowe, centre Rory Hutchinson, wing Jamie Dobie, fly-half Tom Jordan, hooker George Turner, prop Elliot Millar-Mills and Cummings are the players joining Gray in coming in to the side.

Kyle Steyn moves from left to right wing to accommodate Dobie. Prop Zander Fagerson and wing Darcy Graham, who started in Dublin, drop to the bench.

Gregor Hiddleston could make his Scotland debut off the bench.

“We’ll have to gel quickly,” Townsend said.

“It’s our first game since we played in Dublin. We’ve got a lot of evidence in the Six Nations and November that when we get our game in place in attack and defence, we can cause problems to any team in world rugby and do more than that, convert opportunities.

“I believe that our squad now is much deeper and we use that bench to continue what the starters are doing or actually raise the energy.”

Scotland: Rowe, Steyn, Hutchinson, Tuipulotu (capt), Dobie, Jordan, White; Schoeman, Ashman, Millar-Mills, Gray, Cummings, M Fagerson, Darge, Dempsey.

Replacements: Hiddleston, Sutherland, Z Fagerson, Samuel, Brown, Horne, Burke, Graham.

Gray Atkins has made a return to EastEnders as Toby-Alexander Smith reprises his iconic villainous role. He was last seen in the Square back in 2022

Gray Atkins has made a return to EastEnders as Toby-Alexander Smith reprises his iconic villainous role.

The villain was last seen in Albert Square in 2022 when he was sent to prison for murdering Chantelle Atkins, Kush Kazemi and Tina Carter. The serial killer has not been seen since, with Toby-Alexander Smith now reprising his role for a short stint.

Speaking about his return, he said: “It’s been very surreal returning to EastEnders and stepping back into Gray’s shoes.

“He’s one of the most complex characters I’ve had the opportunity to play and revisiting him after several years has been an exciting challenge to get my teeth into. Exploring who Gray is now has been, fascinating, and I’m excited for the audience to see this version of him and watch the storyline play out.”

Gray is currently serving a life sentence in prison but needs the help of his grandmother Sheila (Sheila Ruskins) to get close to ex-wife Chelsea Fox after Jordan’s harrowing accident.

With motives still unclear, there’s trouble ahead but what does Gray want?