RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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The father who bought the rifle used in Georgia's deadly Apalachee High School massacre is set to learn his own fate Thursday, days after his teenage son was sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Colin Gray faces sentencing after a jury convicted him in March of second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and other charges tied to the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting that killed two students and two teachers.
His son, Colt Gray, now 16, was sentenced Tuesday to life without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to 55 charges, including murder, in the attack that claimed the lives of 14-year-olds Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, and teachers Richard "Ricky" Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53. Another teacher and eight students were wounded.
Prosecutors argued that Colin Gray gave his son the AR-style rifle as a Christmas gift, along with ammunition, a gun sight and other shooting accessories.
The case has become one of the nation's highest-profile efforts to hold a parent criminally responsible for a school shooting carried out by their child.
Evidence presented during Colt Gray's sentencing painted a picture of a troubled teenager whose mental health had deteriorated in the weeks before the attack. Investigators testified he admired previous mass shooters, kept photos of the gunman behind the 2018 Parkland school massacre on his bedroom wall and sought online notoriety through the so-called "true crime community."
His mother, Marcee Gray, who was separated from Colin Gray, told investigators she had pleaded with her estranged husband to lock up his firearms and keep them away from their son in the weeks before the shooting.
Instead, prosecutors said, the rifle remained in Colt Gray's bedroom.
Investigators said the then-14-year-old carried the weapon onto a school bus wrapped in poster board before pulling it from a bathroom and opening fire in a hallway and classroom.
During this week's sentencing hearing, victims' families described lives permanently shattered by the attack.
Shayna Aspinwall, the widow of teacher and football coach Richard Aspinwall, told the court her family had been handed "a life sentence of grief and trauma."
Colt Gray's defense argued the teenager was not beyond rehabilitation, pointing to testimony from his grandmother that he had shown significant improvement while receiving treatment and medication in juvenile detention.
His grandmother, Debbie Polhamus, testified she repeatedly urged his parents to get him help before the shooting but said her warnings went unheeded.
"I tried to help Colt because nobody else was helping him," she told the court.
Now attention turns back to Colin Gray, whose sentencing will determine how much prison time the father will serve for his role in one of the deadliest school shootings in Georgia history.
Second-degree murder carries a sentence of 10 to 30 years in prison under Georgia law, while involuntary manslaughter is punishable by one to 10 years. Colin Gray was also convicted of multiple counts of reckless conduct and cruelty to children.
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