The son has been in custody since Wednesday’s shootings at a Georgia high school that left four dead and nine wounded.
Now, the father has been arrested, too, and could spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Colin Gray, 54, faces 14 counts related to the deadly attack at Apallachee High School, The Associated Press reported.
At a news conference Thursday, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said the father’s own decisions implicated him in 14-year-old Colt Gray’s alleged crimes near the city of Winder, about 40 miles northeast of Atlanta.
“His charges are directly connected with the actions of his son and allowing him to possess a weapon,” Hosey said at the news conference, according to the AP.
The bureau announced the arrest on the social media platform X prior to the news conference.
He is charged with the following:
– 4 counts of Involuntary Manslaughter
– 2 counts of Second Degree Murder
– 8 counts of Cruelty to Children(2/3)
— GA Bureau of Investigation (@GBI_GA) September 5, 2024
The elder Gray is charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, the GBI announced.
Is it fair to charge the parents of school shooters?
So far, Colt Gray faces four charges of murder, the AP reported.
On Thursday, the New York Post, citing unidentified sources, reported that Colin Gray gave Colt Gray a semiautomatic rifle in December as a Christmas present. That was the weapon used in Wednesday’s attack.
In May of 2023, then-13-year-old Colin was the subject of an investigation by the Jackson County, Georgia, sheriff’s office after the FBI received tips that he was behind a threat that had been made on the social media platform Discord.
The investigation could not determine that Colt Gray was the individual who made the threats.
The teen denied he was involved.
At the time, Colin Gray acknowledged that his son had access to firearms in their home.
“I mean they aren’t loaded, but they are down,” Colin Gray said, the AP reported.
He was clear, however, about the boy being knowledgeable about guns.
“He knows the seriousness of weapons and what they can do, and how to use them and not use them,” he said, according to AP.
In Georgia, the punishment for second-degree murder is a sentence of 10 to 30 years in prison.
For involuntary manslaughter, it’s one to 10 years in prison.
Depending on the degree, a cruelty to children charge ranges from a misdemeanor punishable by less than a year behind bars to a crime drawing a 20-year sentence.
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