Key Points
- The father of Colt Gray, the 14-year-old accused of perpetrating a deadly shooting in the US, has also been charged.
- Colin Gray allegedly gave his son the AR-15-style rifle used in the shootings as a holiday gift in December.
- He been charged with second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and cruelty to children.
The father of Colt Gray, the 14-year-old who allegedly shot and killed four people and injured nine others at Apalachee High School in the United States, has been arrested in connection to the shooting.
In a post on social media platform X, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) wrote: “In coordination with District Attorney Brad Smith, the GBI has arrested Colin Gray, age 54, in connection to the shooting at Apalachee High School. Colin is Colt Gray’s father.”
Colt Gray was charged with four counts of murder following his immediate surrender. His father Colin has been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children.
At a news conference on Thursday (local time), GBI director Chris Hosey said: “These charges stem from Mr Gray knowingly allowing his son Colt to possess a weapon.”
The GBI also posted an update on X, writing: “[Colin Gray] knowingly allowed his son, Colt, to have the weapon.”
Law enforcement stated that Colin Gray had given his son the AR-15-style rifle alleedly used in the shootings as a holiday gift in December 2023.
The father and son were known to the police, with both being questioned by local officials in 2023 in connection to an online threat to commit a school shooting.
In that investigation, the father mentioned having hunting guns in the home but said his son did not have unsupervised access to them. His son also denied making the online threats.
According to the father’s timeline, the gun was bought months after the first contact was made by the police regarding the online threat.
Following the shooting, which is the 45th school shooting in the US of 2024, candidates from both major parties continue to have varying opinions about school shootings and gun accessibility.
Speaking to a crowd in a rally in Phoenix, Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance said that better security in classrooms and not gun control is what is required to prevent this “fact of life”.
He said: “I don’t like that this is a fact of life. But if you’re — if you are a psycho, you want to make headlines, you realise that our schools are soft targets. And we have got to bolster security at our schools.
“If these psychos are going to go after our kids we’ve got to be prepared for it,” Vance said. “We don’t have to like the reality that we live in, but it is the reality we live in. We’ve got to deal with it.”
Democratic presidential nominee and incumbent vice-president Kamala criticised Vance’s comments and posted her sentiments on X.
Sharing a video clip of Vance’s comments, Harris wrote: “School shootings are not just a fact of life … It doesn’t have to be this way.”
