Dad of suspected school shooter arrested after four were killed at high school
Kya Buller
Featured Image Credit: Barrow County Sheriff's Office
The father of the boy alleged to have committed a school shooting in Georgia has been arrested and charged.
Colin Gray, 54, is accused of buying his son, Colt Gray, 14, an AR-15-style rifle as a Christmas present last year.
Colt allegedly opened fire at Apalachee High School in Georgia on 4 September with this weapon.
The horrifying incident left four people dead and nine others injured.
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Seven of those injured remain in hospital as of yesterday (5 September), but they are all expected to make a full recovery, according to reports.
Colin has been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder, and eight counts of cruelty to children.
The Barrow County Sheriff's Office released his mugshot after their 8pm press conference.
Sources told CNN that that according to the timeline Colin himself provided, he bought the gun after police had raised concerns to the family amid their investigation about school shooting threats made online.
The FBI confirmed that Colt and his father had been interviewed in May 2023 after they received 'several anonymous tips about threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and time.'
A joint statement from the FBI Atlanta and Jackson County Sheriff's Office read: "The online threats contained photographs of guns."
When Colin was pressed about the comments, that were made on Discord, investigators noted: "Colin stated he does not know what Discord is, stating that he works full time and does not play video games."
Colin was then urged to 'keep his firearms locked up' and asked to keep his son away from school until his mental health had improved.
Victims of the shooting have been identified as students Mason Schermerhorn, 14, Christian Angulo, 14, and teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53.
The Georgia shooting is the 45th school shooting of this year, and the deadliest US school shooting since the The Covenant School in Nashville shooting last year that left six people dead.
It has been reported that under state law, Colin could face between 10 and 30 years in prison for the second-degree murder charges and second-degree cruelty to children charges.
Malice murder and felony murder carry a minimum sentence of life.
During a press conference, Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) said: "We take incidents like this very seriously across the state," before confirming Colt will be tried as an adult and has been charged with four counts of felony murder.
As per the Daily Mail, Colt said 'I did it' when being read his rights by officials.