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 the younger 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. LawShield, 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.
This guy’s mistake was picking a terrible mother to have children with She’s a junkie criminal who is all messed up and the kid gets a double whammy of whackadoodle genes and being raised by this snapcracklepop mom at home as well as lefty woke “teachers” at school.
This guy probably has issues too since he chose a girl 15 years younger than him as a mate. Was he so immature himself that he wasn’t attracted to grown-up women his own age?
No wonder the kid ended up cracked.
Well according to the smartest people in the room. Using drugs is a great and wonderful freedom we have in america.
They would never say it’s wrong. That would be being judgemental.
So your idea of Freedom and Liberty is having people you don’t know decide what you can and cannot ingest in your own body. Got it. Sounds like Kamala Harris would be your ideal president.
No. But I want to know if someone is a drug user if I want to employ them, rent to them, or otherwise do business or have a relationship with them.
You can do all the f*ing drugs you want, but just not while employed by me, or living in or otherwise using my property.
Freedom both ways. Sound good??
Just because something is stupid and counterproductive doesn’t mean it should be illegal.
Lots of dumb people smoke and it basically kills them all in the end -sooner or later. Cancer cures smoking.
Other dumb stuff is watching sports on TV. It’s a totally worthless and counterproductive idiotic thing to do. But then again watching anything on TV is pretty idiotic. .It doesn’t mean it should be illegal.
My wife is 28 years younger than me and was picked out for me by my now deceased 1st wife. I wanted to start a second family so I needed someone young enough to pop out the 5 more children that I want. She had her MBA and JD shortly before she turned 22 so you could hardly call her immature.
From what I have read, the FBI, the local LEOs, and the school all knew this kid was a potential danger. They did nothing. But the Dad is facing decades in prison.
The purpose of any system is what it does.
We’re left to conclude the FBI does nothing or, perhaps, the FBI grooms schizos to act out. A government agency would never artificially boost its perceived value by manufacturing issues for it to pretend to solve. Would it?
It’s not unconstitutional for the FBI to go and investigate anyone. Who made threats to school children. I guess they were to busy ignoring Hunter Biden and his lap top.
Well the obvious question, Why in the hell would you buy a firearm for a kid who is preaching harm and has been investigated for same? Additionally, was there a strong gun lockup? Never trust a teenager. I’ve experience in that.
Agreed. Once it was disclosed that daddy bought a 14 year old with anger management issues an AR, you could see his arrest coming from a mile off.
Most of the so called gun safes are not safes at all and are instead considered residential security containers. You can break into most of them just by watching YouTube videos that show you how.
Maybe dad is an asshole and raised his kid to be an asshole.
The kind of man who challenges people to push-up contests and proclaims “no one fucks with a Biden.”
He should be; he knew Lil Joe dirt was a mental case; they already had a visit from the FBI and the local sheriff last year. Keep him locked up. He’s just as much to blame.