Father of suspect in Georgia school shooting arrested
Written by BBC on September 6, 2024
The father of a 14-year-old boy accused of killing four people at a high school in the US state of Georgia has been arrested.
Colin Gray, 54, is facing four charges of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight of cruelty to children, said the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI).
GBI Director Chris Hosey said on Thursday evening the charges were directly connected to his son’s actions and “allowing him to possess a weapon”.
The son, Colt Gray, is accused of killing two teachers and two students in Wednesday’s shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, near Atlanta.
He is due in court on Friday charged – as an adult – with four counts of murder.
Authorities are investigating whether Colin Gray bought the AR-style weapon as a gift for his son in December 2023, law enforcement sources told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.
In May 2023, the FBI alerted local police to online threats about a school shooting, associated with an email address linked to the suspect.
A sheriff’s deputy went to interview the boy, who was 13 at the time.
His father told police he had guns in the house, but his son did not have unsupervised access to them, the FBI said in a statement on Wednesday.
Officials say the threats were made on Discord, a social media platform popular with video gamers, and contained images of guns.
The account’s profile name was in Russian and translated to the surname of the attacker who killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012.
A police incident report describing last year’s interview with the boy and his father was released on Thursday.
In the report, a deputy described the boy as “reserved” and “calm” and said he “assured me he never made any threats to shoot up any school”.
They said he claimed to have deleted his Discord account because it was repeatedly hacked.
Colin Gray also told police his son was getting picked on at school and had been struggling with his parents’ separation.
Police records reveal that the boy’s mother and father were in the process of divorcing, and he was staying with his father during the split.
The teen often hunted with his father, who told police he had photographed his son with a deer’s blood on his cheeks.
The boy’s maternal grandfather told the New York Times he partly blames the tumultuous home life after Mr Gray’s split from his daughter.
“I understand my grandson did a horrendous thing – there’s no question about it, and he’s going to pay the price for it,” Charlie Polhamus told the newspaper.
“My grandson did what he did because of the environment that he lived in,” he added.
During the news conference on Thursday, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said all nine of those injured were expected to make a full recovery.
Several victims had already left hospital, he said.
Students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, and teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53, died in the attack.
Witnesses said the suspect left an algebra lesson on Wednesday morning only to return later and try to re-enter the classroom.
Some students went to open the locked door, but apparently saw the weapon and backed away.
Witnesses said they then heard a barrage of 10-15 gunshots. Two school police officers quickly challenged the boy and he immediately surrendered.
These are not the first charges against the parents of a suspect in a school shooting.
In April, the parents of a Michigan teenager who killed four students with a gun they bought for him just days before the shooting were sentenced for their role in the attack.
James and Jennifer Crumbley were both found guilty of manslaughter and each sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison.
The case was widely reported to be the first time the parents of a child who had carried out a mass shooting were held criminally liable.
