WINDER, Ga. — A groundbreaking criminal trial begins Monday as prosecutors prepare to argue that a father should face murder charges for his role in his teenage son’s deadly school shooting rampage.
Colin Gray stands accused of 29 criminal counts, including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter charges, stemming from the September 2024 attack at Apalachee High School that claimed four lives. His 14-year-old son Colt allegedly gunned down two students and two teachers in what investigators describe as a meticulously planned assault.
This prosecution represents part of a nationwide movement where legal authorities are pursuing criminal charges against parents following their children’s involvement in fatal school violence. According to the criminal indictment, Gray provided his son with both a firearm and bullets despite having adequate warning that the teenager posed a danger to others.
Under Georgia’s legal framework, prosecutors contend this constitutes child cruelty, and the state’s second-degree murder statute applies when a child dies as a result of such cruelty.
The proceedings will take place in Winder, located in Barrow County where the tragedy occurred. While defense attorneys requested moving the trial due to extensive media coverage, and prosecutors supported the request, the presiding judge opted to keep the case local while importing jurors from neighboring Hall County. Jury selection concluded last week.
Law enforcement officials say the younger Gray methodically orchestrated the September 4, 2024 attack at the school serving 1,900 students in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
According to investigators’ accounts, the teenager concealed a semi-automatic rifle in his backpack, with the weapon’s barrel protruding and camouflaged with poster board, before boarding his regular school transportation. During the school day, he departed his second-period classroom, retrieved the weapon from a restroom, and began firing at victims in both classrooms and corridors.
Court testimony from a pretrial proceeding revealed that Colin Gray had presented the firearm to his son as a Christmas present months before the shooting occurred. Additionally, the father purchased an enhanced magazine to increase the weapon’s ammunition capacity.
Prosecutors have disclosed that the elder Gray was aware of his son’s disturbing fixation on perpetrators of school violence, including maintaining what authorities described as a shrine dedicated to Nikolas Cruz, who carried out the 2018 Parkland, Florida massacre. A Georgia Bureau of Investigation officer testified that both parents had discussed their child’s preoccupation with school shooters but dismissed it as harmless joking rather than a serious concern.
Evidence also shows Colin Gray recognized his son’s declining mental health condition and had contacted counseling services in the weeks leading up to the violence. In written communications about his son, Gray stated: “We have had a very difficult past couple of years and he needs help. Anger, anxiety, quick to be volatile. I don’t know what to do.”
