Father of Georgia School Shooter Arrested, Charged With Second-Degree Murder

The father of a 14-year-old boy accused of shooting dead four people and wounding nine others at a Georgia high school on Sept. 4 has been arrested and is facing multiple charges, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced.
“This is a very difficult time for students and parents and many are afraid,” police said. “You’ve likely seen reports of incidents of other students making threats today at schools around GA. In each of these incidents, police took charges and made arrests as we take each matter seriously.”
In Georgia, second-degree murder means that a person has caused the death of another person while committing second-degree cruelty to children, regardless of intent.
It is punishable by 10 to 30 years in prison. Malice murder and felony murder carry a minimum sentence of life.
Involuntary manslaughter means that someone unintentionally causes the death of another person.
It’s not clear if Colin Gray has legal representation.
The charges against the father come after his son was charged with four counts of felony murder in connection with the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder that killed two students and two teachers.
According to police, the suspect entered the school in the morning and started opening fire before surrendering when he was confronted by the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office school resource officer.
Police have said they plan to prosecute the younger Gray, who is being held at a regional youth detention facility, as an adult.
The online threats contained photographs of guns, and the threats were posted on a gaming site, the FBI said.
FBI officials determined the post originated in Georgia, and the Jackson County Sheriff’s office located the minor who they believed may have made the threats.
During the interview with the minor and his father, the boy—who was 13 at the time—denied making the threats online, the FBI said. The boy’s father also said there were hunting guns in the family home but stated that his son “did not have unsupervised access to them.”
At that time, police found no probable cause for arrest or to take any additional law enforcement action on the local, state, or federal levels, the FBI said.
Their son killed four of his classmates at Oxford High School in 2021.
The parents were sentenced to 10–15 years for failing to take adequate measures to secure a firearm at their home and ignoring signs of their son’s deteriorating mental health.