Colin Gray sentenced to 15 years over school shooting

Colin Gray, the father of a teenager who killed four people at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, was sentenced on July 30, 2026, to 15 years in prison.

Gray, 55, gave his son Colt Gray an AR-15-style rifle as a Christmas present in 2023 despite warnings that the boy had threatened to carry out a school shooting. A jury convicted Colin Gray in March of second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and other offences in connection with the attack carried out by his son.

Colt Gray, now 16, pleaded guilty to the September 2024 shooting and was sentenced on Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The attack killed two 14-year-old students and two teachers and wounded nine people.

Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm told Colin Gray at sentencing that he was convicted because “the warning lights were flashing brighter and brighter” and he did not get his son help or remove his access to guns.

The sentencing follows a 2024 Michigan case in which Jennifer and James Crumbley, parents of a teenager who killed four people at a high school in 2021, were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison.