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 · 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.””