Georgia school shooter’s father sentenced to 15 years

Georgia father Colin Gray received a sentence of 15 years in prison on Thursday for allowing his teenage son access to a gun used to carry out a fatal school shooting in September 2024. Gray’s son, who was 14 at the time, opened fire at Apalachee High School in northeastern Georgia, killing two teachers and two students. The shooter, now 16, pleaded guilty to dozens of felony murder charges last Friday and was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Tuesday.

How was the father held guilty in the shooting? Gray gave his son the gun used in the attack as a gift, leading prosecutors to charge the father with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter charges. The 55-year-old pleaded not guilty to the charges, prompting a trial that ended with his conviction in March.

Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith underscored Gray’s negligence at the Thursday sentencing by citing multiple concerning incidents from the son years before the shooting. Police came to Gray’s house in 2021 after the son used a school computer to perform a web search on how to kill your dad, Smith noted. Police came to the house again two years later after Gray’s son threatened to shoot up an elementary school. Gray gave his son a Sig Sauer M400 rifle just months after police visited his home and told him to restrict his son’s access to guns, Smith said.

Gray’s attorney, Brian Hobbs, had asked the court to consider the difference between negligence and murder when sentencing. The son had hid his intent from his father, and the courts already levied the heaviest sentence possible on the actual shooter, Hobbs said.

Judge Nicholas Primm of the State Superior Court in Barrow County ultimately gave Gray 15 years in prison for each second-degree murder charge, 10 years for each involuntary manslaughter charge, and 10 years for each cruelty to children charge. Primm ordered the sentences to be served concurrently, giving Gray a total of 15 years behind bars.

Dig deeper: Listen to Mary Muncy’s report on The World and Everything in It evaluating a parent’s role in mass shootings.