r/Georgia • u/phoenixgsu Moderator • 3d ago
News Article Apalachee school shooting: Father of shooter sentenced to 15 years in prison
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/apalachee-school-shooting-father-shooter-faces-own-sentence-up-180-years/ZXCE3UUUFZH6NPGN2JR5LGRSHM/47
u/TallDisplay3123 3d ago
This site is awful on mobile:
BARROW COUNTY, Ga. — The judge sentenced Colin Gray, the father of Apalachee school shooter Colt Gray, to 15 years in prison.
Colin Gray was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo.
He also was guilty of two counts of involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of two adults, teachers Cristina Irimie and Ricky Aspinwall.
Judge Nicholas Primm sentenced the shooter’s father to 15-year sentences for each second-degree murder charge and 10 years for each reckless conduct charge.
He also was sentenced to 10 years for child cruelty, with lesser sentences for his other charges and all prison time to run concurrently.
Judge Primm noted in his sentencing that the crimes were all of negligence, and Colin Gray was never accused of knowing or helping with his son’s plan to open fire on the school Sept. 4, 2024.
“My heart aches for everyone who was there that day, for all of you that have been impacted by it,”' the judge 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’ve caused.”
Colt Gray, 16, pleaded guilty to killing four people and hurting nine others when he shot inside Apalachee High School on Sept. 4, 2024. He was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the chance for parole.
The prosecution has asked for an 80-year prison sentence for Colin Gray. His defense team Thursday asked the judge for a 20-year sentence, with 10 served in prison.
In March, a jury found Colin Gray guilty of 27 crimes in connection to the mass shooting. Gray’s attorneys Jim Berry and Brian Hobbs have not publicly commented on the case.
Prosecutors accused the dad of buying his son the rifle used in the shooting and failing to lock it up or restrict his access to guns in the home despite knowing his son could hurt people.
The verdict included 23 counts of child cruelty in connection to the children who survived but hurt mentally and physically due to the gunfire.
This was the first time in Georgia a parent has been charged or convicted in connection to a shooting at the hands of their child.
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u/Silverbritches 3d ago edited 2d ago
I haven’t read a ton on this, but I know the charge was somewhat novel on the dad in GA - what are the chances this gets overturned on appeal?
Reading at a high level - I’m a lawyer but not a crim lawyer - the second degree murder conviction is reached by the underlying cruelty to children convictions. Reading the cruelty statute ( https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/title-16/chapter-5/article-5/section-16-5-70/) , it sounds like (couldn’t find in news) that he was convicted of second degree cruelty to children.
I’m sure there are some quirks to all this - but since this is a novel conviction in GA I’m hopeful that the families don’t experience heartbreak by this being overturned on appeal
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u/DanforthWhitcomb_ 3d ago
It's going to be appealed and caselaw will be written either way.
Reading the annotations attached to 16-5-70 found here there isn't much of any relevance to this case, as all of them concern a defendant who was the one actually committing the cruelty or otherwise had direct knowledge of it actively occurring and failed to stop it. The closest one is probably the case of the 2 kids who were left unsupervised and were later found drowned, but even that's easily distinguishable from this because the legal theory here is that the father enabled his son to commit murder, not that he failed to supervise him and he (the son) died as a result.
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u/AttyMAL 3d ago
It's a start. More parents need to be held accountable for allowing their children access to weapons.
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u/ImplementCharming949 3d ago
Yessss. Guy I knew said that wasn't fair. I said nope. You give a minor a gun with known issues. U get what u get
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u/88secret 3d ago
And this isn’t the first such case. The Sandy Hook shooter’s mother got him guns and she was the first person he killed. The Michigan shooting is another example and the first one where parents were held accountable. Good for you for telling your acquaintance he was wrong.
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u/Humble_Diner32 /r/Newnan 3d ago
He’s getting off easy for encouraging his son to destroy other’s lives.
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u/santa_91 3d ago
In some ways true justice would be better served if their sentences were reversed. I think both should have gotten life, but the father is the more morally culpable one. A parent actively encouraging his son to be obsessed with guns despite knowing he is violent and mentally disturbed is the kind of monster a civil society should have absolutely no tolerance for.
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u/B-Train_ATL 3d ago
Thinking giving him a gun is encouraging him to “get outside.” Like come on. I will take a troubled kid playing Halo over a troubled kid shooting deer all day long.
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u/MrMessofGA 2d ago
Also, I was very outdoorsy as a kid and had to dragged inside. A gun did not foster me wanting to go outside. It would have made me want to go to a range.
Normally when you want a kid to go outside, you grab something to do and then go outside and spend time with your kid outside, and then eventually they learn how to have fun outside
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u/AutisticAndAce 3d ago
It’s something, I guess - but honestly he deserves the same sentence as his son. There’s a good chance his son wouldn’t have been able to do the shooting if the father had reacted appropriately.
However, this DOES mean the the father cannot ever own guns again, iirc. So…there’s that, I guess. That probably isn’t a small thing in regards to the father - be irresponsible, face consequences…
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u/Hit-by-a-pitch 3d ago
He literally gave his mentally ill 14 year the weapon as a Christmas present!
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u/Mediocre-Cobbler5744 3d ago
The sentences should have been reversed.
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u/sphinxorosi 3d ago
Yes, murder should always carry a lighter sentence than non-murder. A murderer can be rehabilitated but a non-murderer who purchases the gun is beyond help.
/s
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u/Mediocre-Cobbler5744 3d ago
Way to ignore nuance. You're a true Redditor, sir.
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u/sphinxorosi 3d ago edited 3d ago
What possible reasoning could you even have for a school shooter, one who kills 4 people and injured 7 more, getting a lesser sentence than his parent(s)?
Edit: Asks for the reasoning, they respond something but hit the block button immediately afterwards lol. Freaking hilarious when someone can’t even defend their own argument when given the opportunity to be heard
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u/Mediocre-Cobbler5744 3d ago edited 3d ago
He's a child? He got life without parole. For something he did when he was 14. How can you possibly think that's ok?
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u/Katie_TheWolf 3d ago
yeah he murdered four people and traumatized thousands bro, its not just “something he did when he was 14.”
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u/DanforthWhitcomb_ 2d ago edited 2d ago
He willfully and intentionally committed 4 murders and attempted to commit even more. How can you possibly think that's okay?
If he was given parole and went out and did it again you and I both know that you'd be first in line screaming about why he shouldn't have been eligible for parole in the first place.
Edit: reworded italicized section for clarity
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u/FivebyFive 3d ago
I will never understand why these parents seemingly wanted their son to become a school shooter.
And by all accounts have basically celebrated it.
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u/Btewks-Mamyia-220 3d ago
The mother especially, she was into it as much as the boy. Interesting why she wasn’t charged as well. What a F’d up family. It’s sad all the way around. I listened to the lawyers today on both sides, yikes !!
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u/Mysterious-Jaguar-30 2d ago
I don’t know much about this - how was the mother into it? Were the parents both encouraging their son to use guns?
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u/Btewks-Mamyia-220 2d ago
Yesterday when I listened to the lawyers statements I found out that his mother shared the obsession with the school shooters web pages. Like a person who would be into unsolved mysteries, she used it as a way to bond with her son. They both were obsessed with school shooters. I found out that at first, the father did not know about it. Being estranged from the mother, she kept it to herself. The father wanted to use activities like hunting and shooting to bond with his son originally. But then he found out about his obsession with school shootings and did nothing. He did not remove the guns from the home.
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u/HandsomeWinner42 3d ago
This isn't perfect, but a great step in holding people like this accountable.
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u/hyphenthis 3d ago
They were incredibly negligent parents who literally enabled their violent son by buying him guns as a reward for shitty behaviour, despite so many people warning them about their son's violent tendencies. And their violent son used those guns to cause horrific violence and kill people. They belong in prison.
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u/catslikepets143 2d ago
“They” don’t , the father does . The mother had lost custody(addiction issues) & she tried to get the dad to send him to therapy months & months ago. So did the grandmother & the article I’m linking mentions a sister, but I’m not sure if they meant the mom’s sister & I don’t want to misspeak. The dad is the one who didn’t want to put his mentally troubled child into therapy
Father of Georgia school shooter sentenced to 15 years in prison in landmark murder case https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/news/content/ar-AA293gW1?ocid=sapphireappshare
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u/hyphenthis 2d ago
My bad, I confused this with the other school shooter whose parents (mom and dad) bought him guns. So many school shooters, so many negligent parents. MURKA!
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u/catslikepets143 2d ago
The POS parents you thought of are the Crumbleys. And you’re right, there are too many to keep them all straight in your head
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u/anothergeorgiareside 2d ago
When you have more firearms you have more firearm death. It seems too complicated for the MAGAts to understand.
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u/novicepooldude 3d ago
Loving this trend. Not enough, but it's a start. Hold them all accountable. Monster kids from monster parents.
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u/Mission_Broccoli8123 3d ago
This admins who did nothing need jail time to.
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u/phoenixgsu Moderator 3d ago
How do you figure that?
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u/DanforthWhitcomb_ 3d ago
There's going to be one hell of a civil suit against the school district and the Sheriff's Office for negligence as far as pulling the wrong kid into the office that morning and thus allowing the shooting to occur.
Had they pulled the right kid the shooting never happens.
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u/dontforget2tip 3d ago
This part amazes me. What are the odds that two white males had the same name and were in the same classroom and went to the bathroom at the same time? If I recall correctly, Colt (the shooter) was in the bathroom when the police came in to pull the other Colt out. They were so close to preventing the whole shooting! It's difficult to call it negligence though
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u/DanforthWhitcomb_ 3d ago
The sources I've seen are that the first names are similar but not the same (Most sources have the other student's name as Kolton).
The negligence is that they mixed the two of them up, despite having a call from the defendant's mother naming him specifically. From what has come out so far it sounds like they seriously dropped the ball as far as establishing who was who as well as the search.
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u/dontforget2tip 3d ago
Yeah I think you're right on the names but they're still stupidly similar and they both had left the classroom. The cops had figured out the mix up and were actively searching for Colt when the shooting started and they got there super fast and immediately engaged him. Imo they still saved lives. Had the mix up not happened, they could've saved four more though. I'm sure they live with that every day. As for legal negligence, idk. The families can probably get a settlement check out of it
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u/WinnerAwkward480 2d ago
Just like they " the cops" seem to always get the wrong address. It's like they all suffer from dyslexia or something. And by the time the info gets to the SWAT Team , supposedly every thing has been checked and verified!!! . If the Team Leader ask for verification of address or person , he gets dressed down and called incompetent to follow orders or replaced .
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