Father who gave gun to Georgia school shooting suspect for Christmas is guilty of 2nd-degree murder
A jury just turned parental gun access into criminal liability when it enables a school massacre, redefining where accountability begins and who can be held to answer.
Mar 3, 2026
Sources
Summary
A Georgia jury convicted Colin Gray of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter after he gave his teenage son the gun used to kill four people at Apalachee High School. The verdict expands courtroom accountability beyond the shooter to parental conduct tied to access and supervision. The practical consequence is a sharpened legal pathway for treating gun access decisions in the home as culpable acts when they facilitate mass violence.
Reality Check
When a court assigns criminal liability to an adult’s decisions that made lethal access possible, we move from private discretion to public accountability for preventable harm. This precedent conditions communities to expect enforceable standards around supervision and access, not merely outrage after tragedy. If our institutions apply that standard unevenly, public trust in equal justice erodes and the rule-of-law signal collapses into selective enforcement.
Detail
<p>A jury in Winder, Georgia, convicted Colin Gray on Tuesday of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in connection with the September 2024 shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, northeast of Atlanta.</p><p>Prosecutors argued Gray gave his teenage son the gun the teen is accused of using in the attack. Jurors deliberated for less than two hours before finding Gray guilty of all charges.</p><p>Gray was convicted of second-degree murder in the deaths of two 14-year-old students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo. Under Georgia law, second-degree murder is defined as causing the death of a child by committing the crime of cruelty to children. He was also convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53.</p><p>Another teacher and eight students were wounded. Gray was additionally convicted on multiple counts of reckless conduct and cruelty to children.</p>