Georgia dad guilty in son’s alleged school shooting

Colin Gray after being convicted of second-degree murder over his son's alleged mass school shooting — Gray after being convicted of second-degree murder over his son's alleged mass school shooting

(Image credit: Abbey Cutrer / Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)

What happened

A jury in Winder, Georgia, Tuesday convicted Colin Gray of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter for allowing his son access to a gun he allegedly used to kill two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in September 2024. Prosecutors showed that Gray, 55, gave his son the rifle for Christmas and refused entreaties to lock it up as Colt Gray, then 14, showed signs of deteriorating mental health, including bouts of anger and an obsession with school shooters.

Who said what

“It wasn’t like one parent missed one warning,” Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith told reporters after the verdict. “This was multiple warnings over a lengthy period of time and, like we said, you just had to do one thing — take that rifle away and this would have been prevented.”

The trial was “one of the first in the nation in which a parent was held accountable for allegedly enabling a child’s access to a gun used in a school shooting,” said The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The “only other case like it to have proceeded to trial” sent the parents of Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley to prison for 10 to 15 years. This legal strategy “has gained traction across the country,” The New York Times said, but Gray is the first parent convicted “before the son’s guilt had been determined.”

What next?

Colt Gray’s mother, Marcee Gray, unsuccessfully pushed her estranged husband to lock up the rifle after reading about the Crumbley case, “so Michigan was able to move the needle to the point that it almost stopped this tragedy,” Smith said. “We hope we’ve moved the needle a little further.” Colin Gray’s attorneys “are likely to appeal, setting up a lengthy legal battle for Georgia’s higher courts to determine a balance between parental responsibility and criminal negligence,” Georgia Public Broadcasting said.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.