Father of a 14-year-old boy accused of killing four people at a high school in US state of Georgia, Colin Gray has been arrested and charged with murder.
Gatekeepers News reports that the fifty-four-year-old man is facing four charges of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder, and eight of cruelty to children.
According to officials on Thursday evening; the charges were directly connected to his son’s actions and for “allowing him to possess a weapon”.
The son, Colt Gray is accused of killing two teachers and two students in Wednesday’s shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, near Atlanta.
The suspect is due in court on Friday charged – as an adult – with four counts of murder.
Note that state law in Georgia allows prosecutors to charge minors from age 13 as adults in certain crimes, and they face potentially more severe sentences if convicted.
Law enforcement sources informed CBS News, BBC’s US partner that authorities are investigating whether Colin bought the AR-style weapon as a gift for his son in December 2023.
The charges levied against the father are thought to be the most severe levelled against the parent in this kind of case.
FBI had in May 2023, alerted local police to online threats about a school shooting, associated with an email address linked to the suspect.
A sheriff’s deputy went to interview the teenager, who was 13 at the time.
FBI in a statement released on Wednesday said the suspect’s father told police he had guns in the house, but his son did not have unsupervised access to them.
Officials revealed the threats were made on Discord, a social media platform popular with video gamers, and contained images of guns.
The account’s profile name was in Russian and translated to the surname of the attacker who killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012.
A police incident report describing last year’s interview with the boy and his father was released on Thursday.
In the report, a deputy described the boy as “reserved” and “calm” and said he “assured me he never made any threats to shoot up any school”.
Police said he claimed to have deleted his Discord account because it was repeatedly hacked.
Colin also told police his son was being picked on at school and had been struggling with his parents’ separation.
The boy’s mother and father were in the process of divorcing, and he was staying with his father during the split.
The teenager often hunted with his father, who told police he had photographed his son with a deer’s blood on his cheeks.
His maternal grandfather, Charlie Polhamus told New York Times he partly blames the tumultuous home life after Mr Gray’s split from his daughter.
She said, “I understand my grandson did a horrendous thing – there’s no question about it, and he’s going to pay the price for it.”
“My grandson did what he did because of the environment that he lived in.”
During the news conference on Thursday, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said all nine of those injured were expected to make a full recovery, adding that several victims had already left hospital, he said.
Fourteen-year-old students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, and teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53, died in the attack.
Witnesses said the suspect left the classroom during an algebra lesson on Wednesday morning only to return later and try to re-enter.
Students who went to open the locked door backed away when they saw the weapon.
Witnesses said they then heard a barrage of 10-15 gunshots. Two school police officers quickly challenged the boy and he immediately surrendered.
