WINDER, GA – A jury has convicted Colin Gray on all charges, including second-degree murder, for his role in providing the weapon his teenage son used to kill four people at Apalachee High School in September 2024.
After just a few hours of deliberation following two weeks of testimony, the jury found Gray guilty on 27 of the 29 original counts Tuesday. Two charges had been dropped during proceedings. Gray had pleaded not guilty to all charges, which included second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, and cruelty to children.
The conviction makes this the third time a parent has been charged in connection with a mass shooting allegedly carried out by their child, and the first adult charged in connection with a school shooting in Georgia. Gray faces up to 30 years in prison for the second-degree murder charges and up to 180 years total. His sentencing hearing has not been scheduled.
On September 4, 2024, then-14-year-old Colt Gray carried a semiautomatic assault-style rifle onto a school bus with the barrel protruding from his book bag, wrapped in poster board, according to investigators. The teen allegedly left his second-period class, emerged from a bathroom with the rifle, and opened fire in a classroom and hallways.
The shooting killed 14-year-old students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, along with teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53. One teacher and eight other students were wounded in the attack.
Authorities said the teen carefully planned the shooting at the Barrow County high school, allegedly leaving behind a notebook with handwritten instructions detailing preparation steps and a classroom diagram. Prosecutors argued that Colin Gray provided his son with the weapon and ammunition despite multiple warning signs of the boy’s deteriorating mental state.
During closing arguments, prosecutors contended that Colin Gray was “one person who could have prevented” the mass shooting. Barrow County Assistant District Attorney Patricia Brooks pointed to what she called a “shrine” to Nikolas Cruz, the convicted shooter in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida, along with multiple instances of violence in prior years and months.
“After seeing sign after sign of his son’s deteriorating mental state, his violence, his school shooter obsession, the defendant had sufficient warning that his son was a bomb just waiting to go off,” Brooks told jurors. “And instead of disarming him, he gave him the detonator.”
Colin Gray admitted to giving his son the rifle but said he hoped to bond with Colt through hunting and shooting at gun ranges. Defense attorney Jimmy Barry argued that the teenager should be held solely accountable, saying Colin Gray did not know his son was capable of such violence.
“Everybody wants to see somebody go to jail other than this young man right here,” Barry said, showing jurors a picture of Colt Gray. “This is the person who went into the high school and shot and killed four people he didn’t even know and injured scores of others.”
Colt Gray faces 55 counts, including murder and aggravated assault, and has pleaded not guilty. His trial date has not been set. The Barrow County School District issued a statement thanking law enforcement and first responders for their assistance during what they called “difficult times.”
