CALGARY — The father of the teenager who carried out a deadly shooting at a Georgia high school has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after being convicted on charges related to his son’s access to the firearm used in the attack.Colin Gray, 55, was sentenced following his conviction in connection with the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, where four people were killed and nine others were injured.Prosecutors argued Gray was responsible for allowing his son, Colt Gray, access to a firearm despite previous concerns raised about the teenager’s behaviour. Defence lawyers argued Gray did not know his son intended to commit violence.According to The Associated Press, Gray purchased an AR-style rifle for his son as a Christmas gift in 2023, months before the Apalachee High School shooting..In May 2023, the FBI received a report about alleged online threats involving Colt Gray, who was 13 at the time. Investigators interviewed the teenager and his father, but no charges were filed.Then on Sept. 4, 2024, he opened fire at Apalachee High School in Winder, killing four people: students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, and teachers Richard Aspinwall and Cristina Irimie. Nine others were injured in the attack.After the shooting, Colt faced multiple charges related to the attack. He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. His father was subsequently charged and tried separately.Barrow County Assistant District Attorney Patricia Brooks told jurors during closing arguments that Gray was aware of concerns involving his son but failed to take action..During a March trial, prosecutors argued that Colin Gray ignored repeated warning signs about his son's behaviour. In her closing argument, Barrow County Assistant District Attorney Patricia Brooks told jurors that, instead of disarming his son, Gray "gave him the detonator" by providing him with the rifle used in the attack.“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 said.“And instead of disarming him, he gave him the detonator.”The Thursday sentencing concludes the criminal proceedings against both Colt Gray and his father related to the Apalachee High School shooting.
