A Georgia man has been convicted of murder for a school shooting carried out by his 14-year-old son, despite not being present at the scene. Colin Gray, 54, was found guilty on 29 charges, including second-degree murder, involuntary homicide and cruelty toward children, for the September 2024 attack at Apalachee High School in Winder that killed two students, two teachers and injured nine others.
The case follows the landmark conviction of Jennifer and James Crumbley in Michigan, whose 15-year-old son killed four students in a 2021 mass shooting. The Crumbleys were sentenced to 10–15 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter after a jury found they allowed their son access to a firearm despite school warnings about his crisis state.
Gray had been interviewed by police a year before the shooting over online threats his son made to commit a school shooting. At the time, Gray acknowledged owning guns accessible to the boy and that they often shot together. Seven months after the interview, he gave his son a rifle as a Christmas gift. The teen is accused of using that weapon in the rampage.
Legal experts say these prosecutions signal a shift in accountability for mass shootings. 'There is some societal sense that the harm is so severe that we’re not getting an equal return when we merely prosecute the school shooter,' said Dyllan Taxman, assistant professor of law at Baylor University.
Prosecutors argue parental liability can deter careless gun storage and pressure children to reconsider their actions. 'The goal is to deter parents from being careless with their guns and put pressure on their children to stay away from firearms,' said Nila Bala, a law professor at UC Davis. Sam Levy, of Everytown for Gun Safety, added that such cases demonstrate 'that this type of misconduct has consequences.'
Gray faces up to 180 years in prison when sentenced in July. The cases raise the prospect of further parental homicide charges as US authorities seek to stem school shootings. However, critics warn of overreach; the Crumbleys and Gray are the first parents convicted of homicide for their children’s school attacks.
