Colin Gray, 55, was sentenced to 15 years in prison after a jury found him criminally culpable for the September 2024 mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia. Gray admitted to providing the assault rifle used by his then-14-year-old son, Colt Gray, who carried out the attack that killed two students and two teachers.

Colt Gray, now 16, pleaded guilty to all 55 counts against him, including murder and aggravated assault. Colin Gray faced over 100 years in prison after being convicted on 27 counts, including second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, cruelty to children in the second degree, and reckless conduct.

Prosecutors sought an 80-year sentence for Colin Gray, arguing he gave his son access to a gun months after law enforcement instructed him to restrict the teen's access to firearms. Evidence presented during the two-week trial showed that Colin Gray was aware of his son's fascination with mass shooters, including a shrine in Colt's bedroom dedicated to the perpetrator of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland, Florida.

Colin Gray told his son, “This is a weapon that I want you to shoot when we go to the range, and if you keep doing really good in school, going to school and doing all the things you should, you graduate and you're 18, this will be your gun.”

The sentencing took place at the Barrow County Courthouse in Georgia, where the teen's father appeared before the same judge who presided over the trial. The case highlights a growing legal trend of parents being held accountable for crimes committed by their children when they fail to prevent access to weapons or seek help.

In a related note, in 2023, Robert Crimo Jr. pleaded guilty to misdemeanor reckless conduct for his role in a 2022 mass shooting carried out by his son at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois.

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