Thursday, the father of a boy aged 14 who is accused of being responsible for a mass shooting that killed many people at Apalachee High School (Georgia) pleaded guilty to all charges brought against him.
Colin Gray wasn’t in court but his attorneys told the judge that their client had pleaded not guilty and waived arraignment. In Georgia, it’s not uncommon for defendants who enter a guilty plea to waive formal arraignment.
Gray and Colt Gray were both charged in the shooting on Sept. 4, which killed two students, and two teachers and injured other people. Colt Gray was charged as an adult, and indicted for 55 counts. This included murder and 25 counts of aggravated assault on the high school. His father was charged with 29 counts including two counts of second-degree murder, and two counts of involuntary homicide. Both are also facing multiple counts of cruelty against children.
Colt Gray pleaded not guilty last month and waived his arraignment.
Colt Gray, a 16-year-old boy, is held at a juvenile detention facility in Gainesville. Colin Gray, 54 years old, is held at the Barrow County Jail. Both have not sought bail.
In the shooting, teachers Richard Aspinwall (39), Cristina Irimie (53), and students Mason Schermerhorn (14), and Christian Angulo (14), were killed. Seven of the eight students and another teacher were also wounded by gunfire.
Colin Gray was the first adult to be known to have been charged with a Georgia school shooting. Indicting Gray is the latest instance of prosecutors holding their children responsible for school shootings. Michigan parents Jennifer Crumbley and James Crumbley were the first to have been convicted of a mass school shooting in the United States. They were sentenced to a minimum of 10 years imprisonment for failing to secure a gun at home and failing to act on signs that their son was deteriorating mentally before he murdered four students in 2021.
Investigators say Colt Gray brought a semiautomatic assault rifle wrapped in poster board into a school bus. The barrel was sticking out from his book bag. The boy, who was a student at a 1,900-student school north of Atlanta, reportedly planned the shooting in detail. He drew diagrams and listed potential body counts in a notebook. He left second-period class, emerged from the bathroom with a rifle, and then shot people in a hallway and classroom.
Authorities revealed last month details from the notebooks of the alleged shooter, which included violent drawings and detailed plans for the attack. Witnesses said that Colin Gray was aware of his son’s mental struggles, but bought him a tactical vest, a laser scope, and ammunition in the months before the shooting.
Investigators said the alleged gunman also made a “shrine”, in which he hung the picture of the Parkland Shooter who murdered 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in 2018. They also said that his father knew about his obsession with shootings at schools, and he had discussed the Parkland massacre with his grandmother a week before the shooting.
