Colin Gray, the father of Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray, will be sentenced this Thursday.
Gray was found guilty back in March on all 27 counts he faced, including multiple counts of murder, cruelty to children, involuntary manslaughter, and reckless conduct.
Jurors had weighed the central contention by prosecutors that Colin Gray had sufficient warning his son was a risk to harm others and that it was criminally negligent to allow his son access to firearms, including the weapon used in the shooting, given to Colt as a Christmas present.
The July 30 sentencing will bring to a close a first-of-its-kind trial in Georgia of a parent of an accused school shooter.
Son’s sentencing
Gray’s son faces his own sentencing hearing in the near future. The 16-year-old, who was 14 at the time of the shooting in September 2024, pled guilty to all 55 counts against him last week in court. Because he pled guilty to murder, Gray faces a minimum sentence of life in prison. The judge must decide whether he should be eligible for parole after hearing victim statements, evidence and each side’s summary of the case.
Teachers Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, died in the shooting. Another teacher and eight more students were wounded, seven of them hit by gunfire.
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Teen pleads guilty to 55 counts in fatal Apalachee High shooting
WUGA’s Jeff Dantre contributed to this report
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