Georgia father convicted after jury says he gave son gun linked to school murders

A jury in Georgia convicted Colin Gray of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the 2024 shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, about an hour northeast of Atlanta, with prosecutors arguing that Gray’s decisions helped enable the violence. The trial focused on what prosecutors said was Colin Gray’s access and control over firearms given to his son, Colt Gray, who was 14 at the time of the shooting and has pleaded not guilty to a range of charges related to the attack.

Prosecutors told the jury that Colin Gray gave his son access to a gun and ammunition even though, they said, he knew the boy’s mental health had deteriorated. The AP said the jury returned guilty verdicts on Tuesday and that the case is among a set of prosecutions in the United States that look beyond the child accused of violence to pursue potential criminal responsibility for parents.

The AP’s report described how prosecutors have extended responsibility beyond child shooters when they believe there is evidence that a parent contributed to the tragedy. That framing has appeared in other cases involving children accused of shooting classmates or teachers, where prosecutors have pointed to steps they allege parents took—or failed to take—about firearms access and supervision.

In Wisconsin, the AP said Jeffrey Rupnow is charged with intentionally giving a dangerous weapon to a person under 18 causing death after his daughter, Natalie Rupnow, 15, killed a student and a teacher at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison in 2024 and then killed herself. Prosecutors said Rupnow told investigators his daughter was struggling to cope with her parents’ divorce and that he bought her guns as a way to connect with her, while Rupnow’s attorney argued the actions were reasonable, according to the AP’s account.

The AP also cited the Michigan case involving Jennifer and James Crumbley, describing them as the first U.S. parents held criminally responsible for a mass school shooting committed by a child. The AP said they are serving 10-year prison terms for involuntary manslaughter after their son, Ethan Crumbley, killed four students and wounded others at Oxford High School in 2021.

According to the AP, the school revealed Ethan Crumbley’s violent drawings to the Crumbleys only a few hours before the shooting, but they declined to take him home. The AP reported that, while the Crumbleys were not aware of their son’s plans, prosecutors said Ethan’s actions were foreseeable and that the parents had given a gun as a gift a few days earlier, and failed to prevent the violence.

The AP further tied the Georgia conviction to an Illinois case in which Robert Crimo Jr. pleaded guilty to misdemeanors for endorsing his son’s gun permit affidavit in 2019 while knowing, the AP said, that Robert Crimo III had expressed suicidal thoughts. The AP said Robert Crimo III later killed seven people at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, a suburb north of Chicago, and quoted prosecutor Eric Rinehart as saying, “He was criminally reckless the moment he submitted that affidavit.”

The AP reported that Robert Crimo Jr. was sentenced to 60 days in jail and that his son is serving a life prison sentence after pleading guilty in March to murder. The Georgia case, as described by the AP, represents another instance in which prosecutors and juries have been asked to assess whether parental conduct and firearm access decisions played a role in a child’s alleged attack.

In Virginia, the AP cited the prosecution and sentencing of Deja Taylor after a 6-year-old son took her gun to school and wounded a teacher in a classroom full of students in Newport News in 2023. The AP said Taylor was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for a drug-related crime connected to possessing a gun, and separately sentenced to two years in state prison for child neglect. The AP also reported that Taylor told “Good Morning America” in 2023, “That is my son, so I am, as a parent, obviously willing to take responsibility for him because he can’t take responsibility for himself,” and that the teacher, Abigail Zwerner, told a judge she wasn’t sure “whether it would be my final moment on Earth.”

The AP’s report on the Georgia verdict said Colt Gray has pleaded not guilty, while the jury’s Tuesday conviction of his father underscores prosecutors’ argument that parental decisions about access to guns can be treated as part of the criminal accountability in cases involving child-perpetrated violence.