Father of Georgia school shooting suspect charged with four counts of manslaughter

The young man Colt Gray, 14, and his father, Colin Gray, 54, were charged Friday in a Georgia court for the shooting that occurred on Wednesday at a high school in Winder, Georgia (USA), in which four people died, two of them students.

State Magistrate Judge Currie Mingledorff read the charges against the teenager, the first to appear in a Piedmont circuit court, telling him that, If found guilty, he would not face the death penalty because he is under 18, but he is eligible for a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. without parole.

Under Georgia state law, Colt Gray, who appeared with a public defender and did not request bail, is being tried as an adult for the shooting at Apalachee High School, which could result in new charges being added during the judicial process.

Shortly after Gray’s brief hearing (about 10 minutes), his father appeared, Colin Gray, in a striped prison suit, who was also formally charged with a total of 14 counts of involuntary manslaughter, second-degree murder and cruelty to minors, related to allegedly allowing his son access to the gun.

The boy’s father was arrested Thursday in connection with the high school shooting and for giving him a firearm knowing that “he was a threat to himself and others,” according to the arrest warrant.

Colin Gray, visibly emotional and apparently sobbing as he listened to the judge, could face up to 180 years in prison if found guilty, Judge Mingledorff told the hearing.

According to court records provided by court-appointed attorney Donna Seagraves, the father also did not request bail and added that he would be represented by another attorney at the upcoming hearings.

The judge initially set preliminary hearings for both defendants for December 4.

Relatives of the victims and injured were in the courtroom, and the judge thanked them for their composure during today’s hearing.

The attack unleashed by young Gray took the lives of 14-year-old students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, as well as math teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53.

In addition to the four fatalities, nine people were injured in the shooting, the 45th in US schools so far in 2024, according to a CNN count, all but two by firearms, according to police sources.

Gray, who used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, had been investigated a year ago by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Georgia for allegedly threatening a school shooting online, and was then questioned alongside his father.

During the interrogation, the young man denied being responsible for the threats and his father said that he had weapons at home but that they were kept safe for his son.