Suspected school shooter’s father convicted of murder
AP - PHOTO: Colin Gray, the father of Georgia high school shooting suspect Colt Gray, takes the stand during his murder trial, Feb. 27, 2026.
Posted For: MugsMalone
A jury in Georgia found Colin Gray, 55, guilty Tuesday on multiple criminal charges connected to a 2024 school shooting allegedly carried out by his teenage son using a rifle Gray had given him as a Christmas gift.
Jurors convicted Gray on 27 counts, including second-degree murder and manslaughter. Two additional counts were dropped during the proceedings. The jury deliberated for less than two hours before reaching its verdict.
Prosecutors say the case marks the first time in the United States that a parent has been convicted of murder in connection with a mass shooting carried out by their child. Gray had faced charges including second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment, and cruelty to children. He had pleaded not guilty.
The shooting
Authorities say Gray’s son, Colt Gray, now 16, carried out a shooting on Sept. 4, 2024 at Apalachee High School. The attack left two students and two teachers dead, while eight additional students were injured.
Colt Gray has been charged as an adult and is awaiting trial on multiple counts of felony murder and aggravated assault. He has also pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors’ claims
During the two-week trial, prosecutors from Barrow County argued that Colin Gray had multiple warnings about his son’s troubling interests.
According to testimony, the father knew his son had an obsession with mass shooters and had created a shrine in his bedroom dedicated to the attacker responsible for the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Rather than seeking psychological help for his son, prosecutors said Gray instead gave him an AR-15-style rifle as a Christmas present, the weapon authorities say was later used in the attack.
Gray’s testimony
Colin Gray took the witness stand in his own defense near the end of the trial. At times he became emotional while discussing whether he had noticed warning signs.
“I struggle with it every day,” Gray testified. “He’s a good kid. He wasn’t perfect, but to do something that heinous… I don’t know if anybody would see that type of evil.”
Gray acknowledged that he had given the rifle to his son but said it came with strict conditions.
According to his testimony, he told his son the gun could only be used during supervised trips to a shooting range and would fully belong to him only if he graduated from school and turned 18.
Part of a broader legal trend
The guilty verdict comes as prosecutors across the country increasingly attempt to hold parents criminally responsible when their children carry out violent attacks.
In December 2023, Robert Crimo Jr. pleaded guilty to seven counts of misdemeanor reckless conduct related to the 2022 mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, USA. Each count corresponded to a victim killed by his son. He received 60 days in jail and two years of probation.
His son, Robert Crimo III, who was 19 at the time of the attack, later pleaded guilty to multiple murder and attempted murder charges in 2025 and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Another widely watched case occurred in Michigan. In 2021, Jennifer and James Crumbley became the first parents in the United States convicted in connection with a mass school shooting committed by their child.
Their son, Ethan Crumbley, carried out a shooting at Oxford High School that killed four students and injured several others. He pleaded guilty in 2022 and received life in prison without parole.
Both parents were later convicted of involuntary manslaughter after prosecutors showed they kept an unsecured gun at home and ignored serious warnings about their son’s mental health. Each was sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison.
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