Father Convicted Of Murder For Son’s School Shooting Gets 15 Years

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The father of the teen who killed four people at Georgia’s Apalachee High School in 2024 was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Thursday. Colin Gray is the first parent in the U.S. to be convicted of second-degree murder for their child's school shooting.

"The warning lights were flashing brighter and brighter, and you didn't get him help," Judge Nicholas Primm said during the sentencing. "You failed to do the simplest things to prevent this." The sentencing follows a jury's guilty verdict in March.

Gray gave his son, Colt, an AR-15-style rifle and left it unsecured despite warning signs about the teen’s mental health and fixation on school shootings. Colt, who is now 16, was sentenced Tuesday to life without parole for the shooting.

A few months before giving his son the gun, law enforcement visited his home after Colt threatened to shoot up an elementary school, prosecutors said.

On Sept. 4, 2024, Colt fatally shot 14-year-old freshmen Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, along with teachers Cristina Irimie and Richard Aspinwall at Apalachee High School. Nine other students were injured.

The case is the latest effort to hold parents criminally responsible for enabling school shootings.

James and Jennifer Crumbley, whose son killed four classmates and wounded seven others in the 2021 Oxford High School shooting, were each sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison in 2024 after being convicted of four counts of involuntary manslaughter.

Other parents have faced charges short of manslaughter or murder in connection with their children’s shootings.

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