Father of GA charged with murder

Per ABC News:

“The father of the 14-year-old student accused of opening fire at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, has been arrested and charged with murder in connection with the deadly shooting, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced Thursday.

Colin Gray, 54, was charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, the GBI said.

His son has also been charged with four counts of felony murder, with additional charges expected, the GBI said.
Two teachers and two students were killed in Wednesday morning's shooting: math teacher and football coach Richard Aspinwall, 39; math teacher Christina Irimie, 53; and students Mason Schermerhorn, 14, and Christian Angulo, 14, officials said.

Eight students and one teacher were injured, officials said. All of the injured victims are expected to recover, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said.

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KunsanVeteran · 61-69, M

Washington Post reports:

“A year ago, local investigators interviewed Gray and his son about alleged online threats the teen had made to shoot up a school, accusations that Colt Gray denied at the time. This week, the boy’s aunt, Annie Brown, told The Washington Post that the teen had been “begging” the adults around him for mental health support in recent months.

Before Thursday’s announcement, the teen’s grandfather, Charles Polhamus, said he wanted Colin Gray charged along with his son.

“If he didn’t have a damn gun,” Polhamus said, “he wouldn’t have gone and killed anybody.”

The charges come just months after a mother and father in Michigan became the first parents of a school shooter ever convicted of involuntary manslaughter, a less severe crime than second-degree murder.

Investigators found that, in November 2021, James and Jennifer Crumbley had bought their 15-year-old son a gun, didn’t lock it up and ignored blatant warning signs before he opened fire at Oxford High in Michigan, killing four students.

In separate trials, each was found guilty and sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison, the maximum allowed.

“The set of facts seems so similar and it’s so incredibly difficult to see it repeated,” said Karen McDonald, the Oakland County prosecutor who led the Michigan case.

“My sincerest hope was that there would never be a need to charge parents in another school shooting. Securing a firearm takes less than 10 seconds. It would have been so easy to save the lives of four people.””

whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M

Now thats depressing . And heres why.. One of the favourite law enforcement tricks if a home owner kills an intruder on their property is to charge them with murder.. A charge they know they cant prove the elements of. And they dont put up lesser charges. So when the charge is dismissed, the killer, rightly or wrongly, walks free. In this case the father does bear culpability.. And he should pay. But unless there are lesser charges brought, it is starting to smell like he wont..😷
Reading further I see lesser charges have also been filed, which is a different case altogether..

KunsanVeteran · 61-69, M

@whowasthatmaskedman GA does not have a law that guns must be locked when stored. That would be the easiest way to successfully press charges if such a law was on the books.

In the Crumbley case, that law was not in place as well at the time of the school shooting but has since been passed.

Georgia has some of the weakest gun laws.

For Colin Gray to have been charged so swiftly and listening to what family members are saying, I expect we will hear a lot more about the disturbing family life that led up to this heinous crime.

Georgia lawmakers bear a lot of responsibility for such lax laws. Voters in GA should make their feeling crystal clear at the ballot box.

But it won’t bring back two children’s lives nor those of two great teachers.

KunsanVeteran · 61-69, M

@KunsanVeteran It’s important to note that Georgia does not have a Red Flag Law as well. A Red Flag Law would have allowed the authorities to remove the weapons and ammunition at the Gray home the previous year.

thisguy20 · 41-45, M

I hope the families of those who were senselesses slaughters file wrongful death suits

KunsanVeteran · 61-69, M

@thisguy20 It would be more symbolic than likely to actually accomplish anything to file against Gray. Thus far, the school seemed to have done everything reasonable to expect to prepare for an active shooter. The school resource officers confronted the shooter within minutes and secured his surrender.

The wrongful deaths are placed squarely at the feet of Kemp and ALL THE LEGISLATORS WHO RESISTED PASSAGE OF EFFECTIVE GUN CONTROL LAWS!

If I had my druthers, I would lock up ALL THOSE LEGISLATORS FOR LEGISLATIVE MALPRACTICE RESULTING IN DEATH AND SERIOUS INJURIES THAT WERE COMPLETELY AVOIDABLE!

Diotrephes · 70-79, M

Four people were murdered so why wasn't he charged with four counts of second-degree murder instead of only two counts?

KunsanVeteran · 61-69, M

@Diotrephes It’s the way the laws in Georgia have devolved and it’s related to the “cruelty to children” charges. On the face of it, it doesn’t make sense. We’d need a Georgia lawyer to explain it and even then most of us wouldn’t be to grasp it.

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