Georgia father who gifted gun to alleged school shooter Colt Gray is convicted of murder

 

The Georgia father who gifted his son the gun that the teen allegedly used to kill two classmates and two teachers in a 2024 school shooting was convicted of murder Tuesday.

An emotionless Colin Gray was found guilty of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in less than two hours for his role in the tragedy at Apalachee High School in Winder.

Gray gave his son, Colt, the semiautomatic assault rifle as a Christmas gift “after receiving sufficient warning that Colt Gray would harm and endanger the bodily safety of another,” prosecutors had argued in court.

Colt Gray, who was 14 at the time of the shooting, remains in custody. No trial date has been set, but he has pleaded not guilty to the 55 criminal counts against him.

Colin Gray’s pair of murder counts were connected to the deaths of 14-year-old students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, while the manslaughter charges stemmed from the deaths of teachers, Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53.

Second-degree murder in Georgia includes causing the death of a child by committing the crime of cruelty to children, according to state law.

“We talk a lot about rights in our country,” Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith said after the guilty verdict. “But God gave us a duty to protect our children, and I hope that we remember that, as parents, as community members, to protect our children because that is our God-given duty.”

The older Gray was also convicted of a pile of reckless conduct and cruelty to children counts because eight other students were wounded in the shooting. He will be sentenced at a later date. 

A teacher also suffered injuries. 

The alleged shooter’s mother, Marcee Gray, testified at trial that she pleaded with her estranged spouse to take any guns and lock them away so their son would not get their hands on them.

The teen’s mother, who was separated from Colin months before the shooting, was not charged.

Colin Gray’s conviction on Tuesday is not unprecedented.

Michigan mom and dad Jennifer and James Crumbley were the first parents convicted in a mass school shooting after they failed to prevent their son from possessing a gun that led to the murder of four students in 2021.

The couple was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to at least 10 years behind bars.

With Post wires