Father Of Georgia School Shooter Gets 15 Years In Prison

Colin Gray, the father of Georgia teen Colt Gray – who killed four people in a 2024 school shooting – was sentenced today to 15 years in prison in a high-profile legal case testing the limits of who can be held responsible for a mass shooting.

Colin was convicted of murder and manslaughter earlier this year after buying his son an AR-15-style rifle as a Christmas gift and leaving it unsecured — despite warnings the teen was a danger to others.

He is the first parent of a school shooter to be convicted of murder.

This comes just two days after 16-year-old Colt was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the September 4, 2024, school shooting 45 miles northeast of Atlanta. He pleaded guilty to 55 charges related to the deadly event.

#BREAKINGNEWS: The father of a Georgia teenager who carried out a deadly mass shooting at his high school was sentenced to 15 years in prison for second-degree murder and other charges after a jury found him criminally culpable for the attack.

Colin Gray, 55, admitted to… pic.twitter.com/Swr8KNpP05

— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) July 30, 2026

From AP News:

A defense attorney for Colin Gray asked the judge for a sentence that would amount to 10 years in prison followed by 10 years on probation. The district attorney said Gray deserves a sentence of 80 years in prison.

Judge Nicholas Primm, who also sentenced Colt Gray earlier this week, noted that all of Colin Gray’s crimes were crimes of negligence “tethered to the tragedy committed by his son.”

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

Georgia law defines second-degree murder as causing the death of a child by committing the crime of cruelty to children.

Gray was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the killings of teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53.

Prosecutors argued that Colin ignored “substantial and unjustifiable risks” as his son’s mental health deteriorated.

They noted that Colt had a hung dozens of news articles and photos of previous mass shootings on his bedroom wall — a literal “shrine” to notorious school shooters who killed dozens at Parkland, Columbine, and Sandy Hook.

“You were convicted because the warning lights were flashing brighter and brighter and you didn’t get him help and you didn’t remove his access to the guns,” Judge Primm said during sentencing.

Read more at AP News.

(lead image – screen capture via AP News)