Days after teenage school shooter Colt Gray was sentenced to life in prison, his father is set to appear in the same courtroom for his own sentencing in a landmark case that pushes the limits of who is responsible for a mass shooting.
Colin Gray, whose son killed four people at Apalachee High School in 2024, 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 his son was a danger to others.
His trial was part of a broader push to hold accountable the parents of juvenile mass shooters. He is the first parent of a school shooter to be convicted of murder.
His sentencing Thursday is part of an emotionally fraught week for the community. Colt pleaded guilty to murder last Friday and was sentenced to life in prison without parole Tuesday. Meanwhile, Apalachee High School’s first day of class is this Friday.
Colin Gray’s sentencing represents the end of a harrowing road that began with the September 2024 shooting in which his son, then 14, fatally shot two students and two teachers and injured nine others at his Winder, Georgia, high school.
