WINDER, GA — Colin Gray on Thursday was sentenced to prison after being convicted of giving his son the gun used in a deadly shooting that killed four people at Apalachee High School, the Associated Press reported.
Colin Gray was sentenced to 15 years in prison two days after his 16-year-old son, Colt Gray, was given a life sentence in connection with shooting that killed two teachers and two students. Nine others were injured in the September 2024 shooting at the Barrow County High School.
A jury in March convicted Colin Gray on charges including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.
A defense attorney for Colin Gray asked the judge for a sentence that would amount to 10 years in prison followed by 10 years on probation. The district attorney said Gray deserves a sentence of 80 years in prison.
Judge Nicholas Primm, who also sentenced Colt Gray on Tuesday, noted that all of Colin Gray's crimes were crimes of negligence "tethered to the tragedy committed by his son."
RELATED: GA School Shooting: Teen Sentenced After 4 Killed, 9 Injured
Colt Gray was 14-years-old when he was accused of opening fire at Apalachee with an assault-style rifle that prosecutors said was a gift from his father.
The deadly shooting claimed the lives of two 14-year-old students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, and teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53.
Another teacher and eight more students were injured; seven of them hit by gunfire.
"My heart aches for everyone that was there that day, for all of you that have been impacted by it," Primm said. "But the law requires that I set aside emotion. I don't get to sentence with passion. I have the nearly impossible task of sentencing you without passion despite the immeasurable heartache that you caused."
The teen's mother, Marcee Gray, who was separated from Colin Gray, told investigators she had argued with her estranged husband weeks before the shooting, asking him to secure his guns and restrict their son's access.
The judge on Tuesday acknowledged that Colt Gray was failed by his parents, his extended family and, to a certain extent, society.
Prosecutors have in recent years held parents responsible when they believe they can prove a parent contributed to a killing.
Jennifer and James Crumbley were the first U.S. parents to face such charges after their son, Ethan, killed four students and wounded others at Michigan's Oxford High School in 2021.
Like Colin Gray, they were unaware of their son's plans but had gifted him a gun before the shooting. They are serving 10-year prison terms for involuntary manslaughter. Hobbs, the defense attorney, urged the judge to use that sentence as a guide.
The judge said these are "divisive" cases. There would have been no crime if Colt Gray hadn't brought a gun to school and shot people, he noted. But he said the father could have locked up the guns, kept ammunition out of the house, had someone else keep the guns and gotten his son counseling.
"You were convicted because the warning lights were flashing brighter and brighter and you didn't get him help and you didn't remove his access to the guns," Primm said.
The Associated Press contributed reporting and writing.
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