The father of the suspected Georgia school shooter has been arrested and charged with murder after allegedly buying his son an AR-15 rifle for Christmas.
Colin Gray has been hit with a series of charges — just a day after his son, Colt, 14, allegedly killed four people and wounded nine others in a massacre that rocked Apalachee High School in Georgia on Wednesday.
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Picture of Colt Gray’s father, Colin, taken Thursday after he was arrested in connection with his son’s rampageCredit: Barrow County Sheriff’s Office
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Colt Gray, 14, seen in his mug shot after allegedly carrying out the school shooting on WednesdayCredit: Barrow County Sheriff’s Office
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The gun that Gray allegedly used was displayed on the floor of the high school Wednesday as officers took the teenager into custody Credit: Storyful
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Four people were killed and nine were injured in a shooting at Apalachee High School on Wednesday morningCredit: AP
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Students, parents and teaching staff gathered outside the high school to hold a vigil for those who died on WednesdayCredit: Reuters
Gray’s father, Colin, 54, was charged Thursday with four counts of manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of child cruelty.
His photo was released by the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office following a news conference at 8 p.m.
The father told investigators he bought the gun allegedly used in the shooting as a Christmas present for his son last December, two law enforcement sources told CNN.
What we know so far…
- Four people were killed and nine were injured, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed.
- Students Mason Schermerhorn, 14, Christian Angulo, 14, and teachers Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie were identified as killed.
- 14-year-old college student Colt Gray has been named as the suspected shooter.
- Gray and his father had been interviewed by the FBI a year earlier after authorities received online threats about a possible school shooting.
- The classmate said Gray was stopped from entering the classroom by a student who saw his gun.
- Students gathered on the football field after the attack.
- President Biden and Vice President Harris have been notified.
- The devastating texts revealed the students’ fear.
The source added that the AR-15-style rifle was purchased at a local gun store.
Under state law, he could face between 10 and 30 years in prison on the second-degree murder and second-degree child cruelty charges.
Meanwhile, malice murder and aggravated murder come with a minimum sentence of life in prison.
Georgia authorities told reporters that the parent “knowingly” allowed the son to have the gun.
“We take incidents like this very seriously across the state,” Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), said during a news conference.
Apalachee High School Locked Amid Georgia ‘Active Shooter’ Fears As Cops Strike Barrow County Campus
Hosey added that the teenager has been charged with four counts of murder and will be tried as an adult.
Gray is accused of opening fire at his high school in Barrow County, Georgia, while classes were in session Wednesday morning.
He was arrested on Wednesday and reportedly confessed to the crime by telling officers “I did it” while being read his rights, the Daily Mail reported.
Teachers Cristina Irimie and Richard Aspinwall, as well as students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, were killed in the horrific attack.
Nine others were injured and all are “expected to make a full recovery”.
Seven of the nine victims have already been released from the hospital, Hosey confirmed.
The GBI concluded the news conference by reiterating the ongoing investigation.
INVESTIGATION IN PROGRESS
Authorities have revealed that the teenager’s father bought the gun allegedly used in the shooting as a Christmas present for Gray just months after his son was first investigated by the FBI for threats to shoot at the school.
The FBI said Wednesday that they spoke with Gray and his father in May 2023 after receiving “several anonymous reports of threats to commit a school shooting at an unspecified location and unspecified time.”
“The online threats contained photographs of weapons,” the Atlanta FBI and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said in a joint statement.
Just hours later, the FBI traced the Discord posts all the way to Georgia, and in an interview, Gray claimed his account had been hacked while he denied making the posts.
Family members revealed to The New York Times that the teenager had a “torturous life.”
“My grandson did what he did because of the environment he lived in,” said his grandfather, Charles Polhamus.
“The adults in his life failed him,” added his aunt Annie Brown.
Brown explained that her nephew “actively sought help” for his mental health, but did not find the support he needed from the people around him.
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Authorities announced that the suspect’s father had been arrestedCredit: ABC
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The GBI is still investigating the events of the shooting and has not announced if any more arrests will be madeCredit: ABC
FBI INTERACTION
When the FBI questioned Gray’s father about the posts his son allegedly made on Discord, he said he didn’t know which messaging app it was.
“Colin stated that he did not know what Discord was, stating that he worked full time and did not play video games,” investigators wrote.
When authorities questioned Gray’s father, he admitted to keeping hunting weapons in his home, but his son was only allowed access under adult supervision.
They urged the father to “keep the firearms locked up” and asked him to keep Gray away from school until his mental health improved.
At the time of the interview, the FBI determined there was insufficient evidence to make an arrest.
The officers subsequently rejected claims that they had “dropped the ball” when it came to the teenager and his father, according to Sky News.
“[We did] everything we could do with what we had at the time,” police said, according to the report.
HISTORIC ARREST
Arresting parents of school killers has long been a topic of debate among legal experts and policy makers.
James, 47, and Jennifer, 46, Crumbley became the first parents to be charged in the mass murder of their child earlier this year.
The couple were sentenced in April to 10 to 15 years in prison after their son Ethan opened fire at Oxford High School in Detroit, Michigan.
They were found guilty of four counts of manslaughter, one for each victim killed by their son.
Judge Cheryl Matthews said James and Jennifer had ignored red flags that a “reasonable person” would have seen.
At the hearing, parents and family members testified for the prosecution.
The Crumbleys’ conviction and Colin Gray’s arrest set a precedent in legal policy for punishing the parents of mass shooting suspects.
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A large police presence responded to the sceneCredit: AP
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Students and staff gathered near the football field after the shootingCredit: Reuters
DEADLIEST school shooting in Georgia
Wednesday morning’s events in Barrow County marked the deadliest school shooting in Georgia.
It is also the deadliest US school shooting in 2024.
The tragedy began at the beginning of the school day when reports of an active shooter came in.
Students attempted to block their classrooms, and authorities arrived on the scene by 10:30 a.m.
Gray’s classmate Lyela Sayara told CNN she was sitting next to him in algebra class when he left the classroom around 9:45 a.m.
When he returned, the staff had already received an email about the attacker on campus.
Unaware of the danger, a student who saw Gray return to their classroom about 30 minutes after he left went to open the door to let him in before allegedly seeing the firearm.
When Gray realized he wouldn’t be let in, he allegedly went into the classroom next door, Sayara said.
“He turned toward the classroom, which would have been to my right, and he just started shooting, and you heard about 10 to 15 shots back to back,” she told CNN.
Meanwhile, all the students piled on top of each other and hid behind their desks for safety.
The school was closed, and the students were evacuated to the football stadium.
Barrow County Sheriff Judd Smith said Gray “gave up and went to the ground,” after authorities surrounded him.
“I never imagined in my career that I would be talking to the media about something that happened today,” Smith said at a news conference after the shooting.
“Today pure evil happened. This affects me. I was born and raised here. I went to school in this school system.
“My kids go to this school system… My heart hurts for these kids. My heart hurts for this community.
“But I want to make it very clear that hate will not prevail in this county. I want that to be very clear and known. The law will prevail over what happened today.”
The investigation into the shooting is ongoing and has been described as “flowing” as police continue to search for a motive.
Gray’s father was booked into the Barrow County Detention Center and was booked into the jail Thursday night.
His son is in the Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center and is due in court Friday morning.
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Ricky Aspinwall was a teacher at Apalachee High School and was killed in the school shooting Credit: Facebook/Ricky Aspinwall
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Christina Irimie taught at the high school and died in the shooting Credit: Christina Irimie
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Christian Angulo, 14, was another victim of the horrific shooting Credit: GoFundMe
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Mason Schermerhorn, 14, was among the four dead in the tragedyCredit: Facebook/QuinTrilla Johnson
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Source: HIS Education