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Georgia Shooting Suspect Was Kicked Off Discord for Extremism

The Discord logo on a laptop computer arranged in the Brooklyn borough of New York, US, on Friday, Nov. 18, 2022. Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Colt Gray, the 14-year-old suspected shooter in an attack that killed four people at a Georgia high school, was banned from the chat app Discord in 2023 for violating its policy against extremism.

The app’s safety team reported Gray’s postings to law enforcement at the time, according to an emailed statement from the company. 

“Based on our ongoing investigation since then, we have no indication that the suspect used Discord to discuss the plan or this horrific attack,” Discord said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation was tipped off to online threats to commit a school shooting in May 2023, including photographs of guns, according to a Wednesday post on X from the bureau’s Atlantic Division.

The agency referred the information to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, which located Gray and interviewed him and his father. The office alerted local school officials for continued monitoring of the subject. 

Discord, a closely held company, is a chat site popular in particular with fans of video games. The gunman who killed 10 people in Buffalo, New York, in 2022 planned his attack on Discord, according to Bloomberg’s reporting.

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

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