A Georgia man has been convicted of murder after his 14-year-old son allegedly killed four people and injured nine others in a school shooting. Colin Gray, 54, did not fire any shots and was not present during the attack, but was found guilty on all 29 charges, including second-degree murder and cruelty toward children.
The case follows the landmark trial of Jennifer and James Crumbley, a Michigan couple convicted of involuntary manslaughter after their son killed four students at Oxford High School in 2021. Both cases mark the first times parents have been charged with homicide for their children's school shootings, signalling a potential shift in legal accountability.
Prosecutors argued that Gray enabled the shooting by providing his son access to firearms despite warnings. In 2023, police interviewed Gray about online threats made by his son, and Gray admitted to owning guns accessible to the boy. Seven months later, he bought his son a rifle as a Christmas gift. The shooting occurred on 4 September 2024, at Apalachee High School in Winder.
Legal experts say these prosecutions could reshape how mass shootings are addressed in the US. “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, a law professor at Baylor University. The goal, according to advocates, is to deter parents from being careless with firearms and to encourage them to prevent their children from accessing guns.
Gray faces up to 180 years in prison when sentenced in July. His son has been charged separately. The cases have drawn attention to parental liability, with experts predicting more such prosecutions in the future.
