Father of School Shooter Is Going to Prison, Too

A Georgia father who gave his son an assault-style rifle for Christmas that the teen later used in a school shooting just received a 15-year prison sentence. A judge handed down the sentence Thursday to Colin Gray, 55, after a jury in March found him guilty of charges including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, reports NBC News. The move came two days after Colt Gray, now 16, received life without parole for a 2024 shooting at Apalachee High School that killed two students and two teachers, and wounded nine others. Judge Nicholas Primm sentenced both father and son, 11Alive reports.

"All your crimes are a form of criminal negligence," Primm told the elder Gray upon sentencing. Colin Gray gave his son the weapon just months after police had been called over the boy's threat to shoot up an elementary school. Prosecutors said the younger Gray was fixated on Columbine and Sandy Hook, and they argued his father "ignored a substantial and unjustifiable risk" by giving him the gun. Victims' relatives urged a sentence closer to 80 years, but Primm said he had "to distinguish your acts from the malignant heart and the acts that Colt Gray committed on the Apalachee school."