Georgia father sentenced to 15 years in deadly school shooting committed by son
Colin Gray's sentencing comes days after his son was sentenced to life in prison for 2024 shooting
A man who gave his son the gun he used to kill two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Georgia was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison.
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he → sentence → prison
Colin Gray's sentencing comes days after his son, Colt Gray, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting at the school 70 kilometres northeast of Atlanta.
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son → come → Atlanta
Colt Gray had pleaded guilty to murder and other charges.
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Gray → plead → murder
Judge Nicholas Primm, who also sentenced Colt Gray earlier this week, was blunt in addressing Colin Gray: "It is clear you failed as a parent."
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you → sentence → parent
But he said punishing crimes of negligence is particularly hard because there was no intent to commit a crime.
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punishing → say → crime
"My heart aches for everyone that was there that day, for all of you that have been impacted by it.
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that → ache → it
But the law requires that I set aside emotion.
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I → require → emotion
I don't get to sentence with passion.
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I → get → passion
I have the nearly impossible task of sentencing you without passion despite the immeasurable heartache that you caused," Primm said.
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Primm → have → that
The elder Gray is one of a handful of American parents who have been criminally charged after their children were accused in shootings.
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children → charge → shootings
A jury in March found Colin Gray guilty of second-degree murder in the deaths of two 14-year-old students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo.
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Gray → find → students
Georgia law defines second-degree murder as causing the death of a child by committing the crime of cruelty to children.
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law → define → children
Gray was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the killings of teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53.
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Gray → find → teachers
Another teacher and eight other students were wounded.
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teacher → wound → ?
Second-degree murder is punishable by at least 10 years but no more than 30 years in prison, while involuntary manslaughter carries a penalty of one to 10 years in prison.
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manslaughter → carry → prison
The father was also convicted of multiple counts of reckless conduct and cruelty to children.
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father → convict → children
Prosecutors say Colin Gray gave his son, Colt, the rifle as a Christmas gift along with ammunition, a gun sight and other shooting accessories.
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Barrow County Sheriff's Office Investigator Jason Smith testified that Colt Gray carried the semi-automatic rifle onto the school bus with the barrel sticking out and wrapped in poster board.
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barrel → say → board
The teenager left his second-period class and went to a bathroom, emerged with the rifle and shot people in the hallway and a classroom, the investigator said.
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investigator → leave → hallway
Colt Gray, who was 14 at the time of the shooting, had shown signs of deteriorating mental health in the weeks leading up to the killings, according to testimony during his sentencing hearing.
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who → show → hearing
He also had more than a dozen photos of Nikolas Cruz — the shooter in the 2018 massacre at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School — on his bedroom wall, an investigator testified.
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investigator → have → wall
Families speak their pain
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Families → speak → pain
Family members of those who died and victims of the shooting, many of whom also spoke during Colt Gray's sentencing, condemned what they said were Colin Gray's failures as a parent and urged the judge to give him the maximum sentence.
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they → die → sentence
Because of the choices made inside the Gray household, four families were handed life sentences of grief," said Breanna Schermerhorn, whose son was killed.
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son → make → grief
"He did not pull the trigger but purchased and left a firearm accessible to a minor," said Shayna Aspinwall, whose husband was killed.
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husband → pull → minor
She said the sentence must take into account "the families left behind who must carry the grief and trauma for the rest of our lives.
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who → say → lives
"
Son gets life without parole
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Son → get → parole
The teen's mother, Marcee Gray, who was separated from Colin Gray, told investigators that she had argued with her estranged husband weeks before the shooting, asking him to secure his guns and restrict their son's access.
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she → separate → access
Prosecutors played recordings during the teenager's sentencing hearing of phone calls between Marcee Gray and her son while he was in custody in the months after the shooting.
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he → play → shooting
They discussed his online notoriety, and Marcee Gray told her son she'd bring him printouts of "fan art" posted online, describing the images as "extremely cute" and "awesome."
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she → discuss → images
Barrow County district attorney Brad Smith called Marcee Gray "disgusting," but prosecutors said they couldn't find cause to bring charges.
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they → call → charges
Prosecutors have also said her limited contact with her son before the shooting prevented a reasonable prospect of charging her with a crime.
Earlier this week, Colt Gray, now 16, was sentenced to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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Gray → say → parole
Rift in sentencing recommendations
Defence attorney Brian Hobbs asked the judge for a sentence of 10 years in prison followed by 10 years on probation.
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Hobbs → ask → probation
Smith said Colin Gray deserved a sentence of 80 years in prison.
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Gray → say → prison
Hobbs argued that Colt Gray "actively hid the depth of his involvement" in an online "true crime" community obsessed with mass shooters.
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Gray → argue → shooters
The red flags enumerated by prosecutors were spaced out and "surrounded by stretches of a child who laughed, who was bright, who loved his computer, video games, who played guitar, who went into the woods with his father," Hobbs said.
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Hobbs → enumerate → father
By giving Gray essentially the same sentence as his son, the actual killer, the judge would be erasing the line in Georgia law "between the harm a person intends to do and the harm a person fails to prevent," Hobbs argued.
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Hobbs → give → harm
Smith countered that Colin Gray "was convicted for what he did know."
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he → counter → what
Gray ignored "a substantial and unjustifiable risk," Smith said, displaying photos and news articles about the 2018 massacre at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that hung on the teenager's bedroom wall.
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that → ignore → wall
"This was the risk that he was ignoring: that there would be a mass shooting of children at a school, and he gave his son the exact tool he would need to accomplish this.
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he → ignore → this
"
U.S. prosecutors have in recent years held some parents responsible when they believe they can prove a parent contributed to a killing.
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parent → hold → killing
…and 3 more, not listed.
