Police in Georgia have arrested the father of the 14-year-old who allegedly killed two students and two teachers and injured nine others in an attack at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia.
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), 54-year-old Colin Gray, father of suspected shooter Colt Gray, faces multiple charges including four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children.
In a post on social media platform X, formerly twitter, GBI stated that the older Gray “knowingly allowed his son, Colt, to have the weapon.”
Second-degree murder, defined in Georgia as causing the death of another person while committing second-degree cruelty to children, regardless of intent, is punishable by 10 to 30 years in prison. The charges against the father came after his son was charged with four counts of felony murder in connection with the shooting. More charges are expected for the younger Gray in the wounding of others at the school.
At his first court appearance this morning, Colin Gray was represented by a public defender and did not ask for bond. With all the charges filed against him, the elder Gray could face up to 180 years in prison.
Colin Gray’s arrest came as reports surfaced about the FBI having investigated Colt Gray last year for allegedly making anonymous threats to shoot up a school. According to the sheriff’s office, authorities were not able to substantiate the threat and the investigation was closed.
At the time, according to a Fox News report, the father told investigators during the visit to Gray’s home that he had hunting rifles in the house, but that “Colt is allowed to use them when supervised but does not have unfettered access to them.”
Now, however, federal law enforcement sources close to the investigation are saying that the gun used in the attack, an AR-style rifle, was purchased by the elder Gray as a gift for his son last December, likely resulting in the serious charges.
Matthew Kilgo, an attorney with Georgia Gun Lawyers and an independent program attorney for U.S. Law Shield, said because of the specific charges against the elder Gray, prosecutors will likely have their work cut out for them. The state does not have a safe storage law, and among the initial charges, involuntary manslaughter typically deals with acts other than a felony, which the father has not been charged with.
“The issue centers around whether the father’s act or failure to act [in allowing the juvenile access to the firearm] constituted negligence that a reasonable person would not have committed,” Kilgo said. “It’s so wide and muddy that any act that the state at this point could perceive that the dad took that would have allowed his son to gain access to the gun is probably OK for charging because the level of proof for charging, probable cause, is so many steps down the wrung from beyond reasonable doubt. The problem then becomes that level of proof gets raised extremely high when you go to trial. So, that same level that would cause you to be arrested may not be enough to cause you to be convicted. And it’s got to be that level of negligence that a reasonable person would or would not have taken. The evidence they will need for the cruelty to children and second degree murder charges to be proven will need to show the dad’s actions—or failures to act—deviated from what a ‘reasonable person’ would do.”
The charges against Colin Gray come just five months after the parents of a Michigan teen who killed four students at Oxford High School in 2021 were each sentenced to 10 years in prison for not preventing their son from possessing the gun he used in the murders.
“These convictions are not about poor parenting,” Oakland County Judge Cheryl Matthews said at the time. “These convictions confirm repeated acts, or lack of acts, that could have halted an oncoming runaway train.”
As we reported earlier today, the shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia has resulted in widespread calls from anti-gun activists for more restrictive gun laws.
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