Colin Gray, the father of Georgia school shooter Colt Gray, was found guilty of murder and manslaughter prices Tuesday in a case testing the boundaries of who’s liable for a mass capturing.
The jury deliberated for lower than two hours earlier than convicting him on all 27 prices: Two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of involuntary manslaughter, 18 counts of cruelty to kids and 5 counts of reckless conduct.
At the protection desk, Colin Gray didn’t visibly react to the decision. He was taken from the courtroom in handcuffs. He faces 10 to 30 years in jail on every murder cost and 1 to 10 years on every manslaughter cost.
Prosecutors accused Gray of shopping for his son an AR-15-style rifle as a Christmas current and permitting him entry to that weapon and ammunition regardless of warnings that his son was a hazard to others. Colt Gray, then 14, used that rifle to hold out a mass capturing at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, on September 4, 2024, killing two lecturers and two college students and wounding 9 others.
“That man and his son are both responsible for the immense suffering that occurred on September 4,” prosecutor Patricia Brooks mentioned in closing arguments. “The blood is on their hands.”
Colin Gray’s protection, although, argued he didn’t find out about his son’s violent plans and had taken steps to get him assist for his psychological well being troubles.
Colin Gray takes stand in his murder trial
Colin Gray, the father of Georgia faculty capturing suspect Colt Gray, took the stand to testify in his personal protection at his murder trial the place he turned emotional saying “there was this complete different aspect of Colt I didn’t know existed.”
The indictment alleged his actions constituted “criminal negligence” by “consciously disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk.”
The trial was half of a broader push to carry extra individuals accountable for a faculty capturing, together with the shooter’s parents and responding law enforcement officers. This case bears shut similarities to the trials and convictions of James and Jennifer Crumbley, whose then-15-year-old son killed 4 college students in 2021 at his highschool in Oxford, Michigan.
Colt Gray has admitted to the shooting, in response to authorities. Now 16, he has pleaded not guilty to 55 felony counts, together with 4 counts of malice murder. A trial date has not been set.
The state introduced its case over about two weeks, together with emotional testimony from students and teachers who survived the capturing, police interviews with Colin Gray, photos showing unsecured firearms and ammo in a bed room closet, and testimony from the teenager’s mother, grandmother and sister about Colt’s spiraling psychological well being.
Marcee Gray, the defendant’s estranged spouse who struggled with drug and alcohol habit, testified their son was riddled with anxiousness, simply agitated and had panic assaults. She mentioned it was “very obvious” he wanted skilled assist, however her husband “just didn’t want to deal with it.”
Notably, the jury noticed body-camera footage from May 21, 2023, when deputies with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office visited Colt and Colin Gray’s residence after receiving an FBI tip about an online threat to shoot up a school. Colt denied posting the risk, and regulation enforcement was in the end not in a position to substantiate the tip. Colin Gray purchased his son the AR-15-style rifle later that 12 months.
Video: Police interview Georgia capturing suspect again in 2023
The protection known as only one witness: Colin Gray himself. He testified he purchased his son the firearm and ammunition in an try to get him within the outdoor and for father-son bonding. He additionally mentioned he had scheduled counseling in school for Colt’s psychological well being points and didn’t ever understand his son as a risk.
“He’s a good kid,” the father mentioned by tears. “He wasn’t perfect, nor was I, but to do something that heinous, I don’t know that anybody can see that kind of evil. The Colt I knew, the relationship I had, there was this whole other side of Colt I didn’t know existed.”
Yet in a tense cross-examination, he acknowledged a number of firearms had been saved in a closet, unsecured and unlocked, and he mentioned Colt generally stored the AR-15-style rifle in his bed room. He struggled to clarify Colt’s lack of faculty attendance all through his total eighth grade faculty 12 months, per faculty information.
And he admitted he was conscious that his son had been bodily violent, had a photograph of a faculty shooter posted on his bed room wall and had texted just a few weeks earlier than the assault, “Whenever something happens, just know the blood is on your hands.”
Finally, the jury watched harrowing surveillance video exhibiting Colt Gray’s actions the morning of the college capturing on September 4, 2024. School officers and useful resource officers had gone to intercept Colt Gray after he made a number of regarding feedback that morning, however in a stranger-than-fiction mix-up, they confused him with one other scholar named Kolton Gray.
Colt Gray then armed himself with the rifle – which he had introduced to highschool hidden in his backpack – fired indiscriminately right into a math class and shot a number of individuals within the hallway. Teachers Richard Aspinwall and Cristina Irimie and college students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo had been killed.
This story has been up to date with further data.