A Georgia man who provided his son with the weapon used to kill two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Colin Gray’s sentencing on Thursday follows days after his son, Colt Gray, received a life sentence without parole for the Sep. 4, 2024, shooting at the school, located 45 miles northeast of Atlanta. Colt Gray had previously pleaded guilty to murder and other charges.

The sentence for Colin Gray, 55, fell between the defense’s request for 10 years in prison followed by 10 years of probation and the district attorney’s demand for an 80-year term.

Judge Nicholas Primm, who also presided over Colt Gray’s sentencing, characterized Colin Gray’s offenses as crimes of negligence, intrinsically "tethered to the tragedy committed by his son."

Addressing the court, Judge Primm acknowledged the profound impact of the tragedy.

"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," he stated.

Gray is among a small number of American parents to face criminal charges after their children committed school shootings.

A jury in March found him guilty of second-degree murder in the deaths of 14-year-old students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo.

Georgia law defines this charge as causing a child’s death through cruelty to children. He was also convicted of involuntary manslaughter for the killings of teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53.

In addition to the fatalities, another teacher and eight students were wounded, with seven suffering gunshot injuries.

Families give powerful victim impact statements

During victim impact statements, family members of the deceased and survivors condemned Gray’s parental failures, urging the judge to impose the maximum possible sentence.

Breanna Schermerhorn, whose son was killed, emphasized the preventability of the tragedy: "This wasn’t unavoidable. This was preventable. Because of the choices made inside the Gray household, four families were handed life sentences of grief."

Shayna Aspinwall, whose husband died, added, "He did not pull the trigger but purchased and left a firearm accessible to a minor."

She stressed that the sentence must acknowledge "the families left behind who must carry the grief and trauma for the rest of our lives."

Prosecutors blame him for missing son’s red flags

Prosecutors argued that Colin Gray overlooked numerous warning signs.

They detailed how he gifted his son the rifle, complete with ammunition, a gun sight, and other accessories, for Christmas.

Barrow County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Jason Smith testified that Colt Gray brought the semiautomatic rifle onto the school bus, parti__ally concealed in poster board. __

The teenager then left class, retrieved the weapon from a bathroom, and opened fire in a hallway and classroom.

Testimony revealed that Colt Gray, 14 at the time of the shooting, had exhibited declining mental health in the weeks leading up to the attack. An investigator testified that he was part of an online "true crime community" where he and other young people discussed their obsession with mass shooters.

Furthermore, Colt Gray’s mother, Marcee Gray, who was separated from Colin Gray, informed investigators that she had argued with her estranged husband weeks before the shooting, imploring him to secure his firearms and restrict their son’s access.

Colin Gray’s attorney, Brian Hobbs, contended that Colt Gray "actively hid the depth of his involvement" in the online community. Hobbs argued that the "red flags" cited by prosecutors were isolated incidents, interspersed with periods where the boy appeared normal, enjoying hobbies like computers, video games, and guitar.

Hobbs asserted that a decades-long sentence would amount to "death in prison" for his 55-year-old client, arguing it would blur the legal distinction "between the harm a person intends to do and the harm a person fails to prevent."

Conversely, Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith maintained that Colin Gray "was convicted for what he did know." Smith argued that Gray ignored "a substantial and unjustifiable risk," presenting photos and news articles about the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre found on Colt Gray’s bedroom wall.

"This was the risk that he was ignoring, that there would be a mass shooting of children at a school, and he gave his son the exact tool he would need to accomplish this," Smith stated. "He is the reason four people are dead, seven were injured and countless others were traumatized, and he is the reason a 16-year-old boy was sentenced two days ago to the rest of his life in prison."

This case adds to a growing trend of prosecutors holding parents accountable for their children’s violent acts. Jennifer and James Crumbley were the first U.S. parents to face such charges after their son, Ethan, killed four students at Michigan’s Oxford High School in 2021.

Like Gray, they had gifted their son a gun before the shooting and were unaware of his specific plans. They are currently serving 10-year prison terms for involuntary manslaughter, a precedent Hobbs urged Judge Primm to consider.