BARROW COUNTY, Ga. — Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith felt a sense of relief when he heard the guilty plea from Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray. “It was emotional. It was a bit of a weight lifted off of us,” Sheriff Smith said. On Tuesday, Judge Nicholas Primm sentenced Colt Gray to life in prison without parole for the shooting. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Sheriff Smith remembers that day too well. He remembers walking the halls in the aftermath of the deadliest school shooting in Georgia history, having to tell the families about lost loved ones. “It’s going to be a void. There is an empty place at the table,” Smith said. In the nearly two years that followed, the community has tried to move on as the legal process played out. Last week, Colt Gray pled guilty in a non-negotiated plea, leaving his punishment in the hands of the judge. Over the course of the multi-day sentencing hearing, both sides presented evidence. The prosecution showed how Colt Gray researched and idolized past school shooters. They played jailhouse phone calls between Gray and his mother where they seemed to revel in fan art. “You aren’t wracked with guilt. You’re proud of yourself,” Judge Primm told Gray Tuesday. “Less than a month after the tragedy, you weren’t concerned with the horror you wrought, but rather with finding out which mass murderers they were comparing you to.” Sheriff Smith agreed with that assessment. “He has no remorse for what he’s done. It was…
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