A man who bought his son a gun the teenager used to kill four people at his high school outside Atlanta was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison, the first time in Georgia history that the parent of a school shooter was sentenced over it.
Colin Gray was convicted of second-degree murder and other charges in March after buying his son Colt an assault-style rifle as a Christmas gift.
Colt Gray, who prosecutors said has a history of mental health issues, took the gun to Apalachee High School, and fatally shot fellow 14-year-olds Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo and teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, on Sept. 4, 2024. Eight more students and another teacher were wounded.
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Gray had asked a teacher if he could go to the front office and speak to someone on the day of the shooting.
“The teacher allowed him to leave and take his belongings with him. Gray went to the restroom and hid from teachers. Later, he took out the rifle, and began shooting,” the agency said.
Colt Gray pleaded guilty to murder and other charges in March and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole earlier this month.
His mother, Marcee, did not have custody and did not face charges due to her limited contact with her son, according to Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith.
Colt Gray admired other school shooters, including the one who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018.
Gray is among a few parents sentenced after their children carried out a school shooting. In 2024, the first parents convicted in a U.S. mass school shooting were sentenced to at least 10 years in prison. Jennifer and James Crumbley’s teenage son killed four students in 2021 at Oxford High School in Michigan.
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