Father of Georgia school shooting suspect pleads not guilty to all charges News
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Father of Georgia school shooting suspect pleads not guilty to all charges

The father of a 14-year-old accused of killing four people in a mass shooting pleaded not guilty to all charges on Thursday.

Colin Gray waived his arraignment, entered a not-guilty plea, and demanded a jury trial. Gray faces 29 charges, including second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, reckless conduct, and cruelty to children in the second degree. The prosecution claimed Gray provided his son access to guns and ammunition “after receiving sufficient warning that [his son] would harm and endanger the bodily safety of another.” The claim was based on the son’s history of mental illness and troubled behavior.

In October, a Georgia grand jury charged Gray and his son over a school shooting at Appalachee High School in September. Gray’s son stands accused of killing two students and two teachers during the shooting and injuring another nine people. Gray’s son has been charged with 55 counts, including malice murder, aggravated assault, and cruelty to children.

Colin Gray’s case is the first in the country in which the parent of an alleged school shooter has been charged with murder. The case also marks the first time in state history that a parent has been charged for their child’s alleged school shooting. As school shootings continue to cause hundreds of deaths and injuries across the US each year, states and law enforcement have sought new ways to prevent their occurrence and expand accountability. Earlier this year, Michigan became the first state to convict parents for a school shooting, sentencing both parents to 10 years on manslaughter charges.

After that shooting, Michigan also adopted a safe storage law criminalizing failure to safely store firearms when a child is likely to be present. 26 states have enacted similar secure storage and/or child-access laws, according to Everytown Research. Georgia does not require safe storage.

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