Father who gave teen son gun used in school shooting that killed four sentenced to 15 years in prison
A man who gave his son the gun that was used in a school shooting that killed four people has been sentenced to 15 years in jail.
Colt Gray, 16, fatally shot two teachers and two students as well as wounding nine others at Apalachee High School, Georgia, in September 2024.
This week, Colt was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to 55 charges, including four counts of murder.
Speaking at his sentencing Judge Nicholas Primm said: “Your crimes do reflect permanent incorrigibility and I will sentence you to life without parole for each of the malice murders you committed.”
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His father Colin, 55, admitted to providing the AR-15-style assault rifle used by his then-14-year-old son in the school shooting.
During a trial in March, Colin’s defence team argued that he hadn’t been aware of his son’s violent plans that resulted in the deaths of 53-year-old Cristina Irimie, Richard Aspinwall, 39, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14.
However, a jury took less than two hours to convict Colin on 27 charges, including two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of involuntary manslaughter, and 18 counts of cruelty to children.
Colin returned to court today (Thursday 30 July) for sentencing having been warned at his trial he could up to 80 years behind bars.
Prosecutors in Georgia had pushed for the maximum sentence, while the defence team had asked the judge to hand down a 10-year sentence.
Today, Judge Primm gave the defendant 15 years for each second degree murder conviction and 10 years for each involuntary manslaughter conviction, all to be served concurrently.
The judge addressed Colin directly after the sentencing admonishing him for not sending Colt to therapy and for not monitoring his online activity.
He also slammed him for not locking up the guns in his house.
"It is clear you failed as a parent," he said.
"The warning lights were flashing brighter and brighter...and you failed to do the simplest things to prevent this."
However, the judge also acknowledged that Colin ‘didn't seek to harm anyone’ and ‘didn't pull a trigger’.
During the trial, the jury heard that Colin had given Colt the rifle for Christmas in 2023, despite the fact the teen had been questioned by cops just months earlier in regard to online threats about committing a school shooting.
"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," Barrow County Assistant District Attorney Patricia Brooks told jurors.
Colin’s defence team has argued that the blame lay with Colt and claimed their client had no idea about his son’s plans to commit the horrific attack.
Speaking during today’s sentencing, Judge Primm said: “My heart aches for everyone that was there that day, for all of you that have been impacted by it.
“But the law requires that I set aside emotion. I don’t get to sentence with passion. I have the nearly impossible task of sentencing you without passion despite the immeasurable heartache that you caused.”
Colin now joins a handful of American parents who have been criminally charged after their children were accused in shootings.
Claire Reid