By Rich McKay
ATLANTA, March 2 (Reuters) - Prosecutors told jurors on Monday that a father armed and enabled a school shooter, giving his troubled son a rifle for Christmas that the son allegedly used to kill two students and two teachers and wound seven others at a Georgia high school.
Following closing arguments on Monday, jurors began deliberating rare murder charges against the father, Colin Gray, 55. He faces 29 charges, including two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct stemming from his son Colt's actions.
The case is "about who armed Colt and who enabled him to do what he did," prosecutor Patricia Brooks told jurors in her closing arguments.
Colin Gray, who pleaded not guilty, took the stand in his own defense during the 11-day trial, saying that he was trying to be a good father in a broken home. He said he never imagined Colt Gray would carry out the September 2024 attack at Apalachee High School in Winder, about an hour's drive northeast of Atlanta.
Trial has not yet been scheduled for Colt Gray, who was 14 at the time of the shooting. Colt Gray faces 55 counts, including four counts of malice murder and four counts of felony murder. Those killed were students Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn, both 14, and teachers Cristina Irimie, 53 and Richard Aspinwall, 39.
MICHIGAN SCHOOL SHOOTING
Such trials have been rare, but have been embraced by some prosecutors and communities as a response to school shootings and perhaps a deterrent in cases where parental responsibility is clear.
In a 2024 Michigan case, jurors found that the parents of 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, who in 2021 killed four students at his high school in a Detroit suburb, gave their son a gun and ignored warning signs. Jennifer and James Crumbley were sentenced to between 10 and 15 years in prison for manslaughter.
In Georgia, one of Colin Gray's defense attorneys, Jimmy Berry, in closing arguments on Monday said the community was searching for answers, but jurors "have to decide the case on facts and the law, not emotion."
During Colin Gray's trial before Piedmont Circuit Superior Court Chief Judge Nicholas Primm, prosecutors alleged that the elder Gray ignored such behavior as his son creating a large shrine to other mass school shooters in his bedroom, and acting out in school and violently at home. Jurors were shown body camera footage from deputies who came to his home after the shooting.
The elder Gray was seen on the video saying, “God. I knew it, man. My little girl just texted me.”
The video also showed Colin Gray telling deputies, “We’re trying to get him into counseling."
But Colin Gray's estranged wife, Marcee Gray, told the jury that her husband ignored such efforts and that she implored him to keep the guns in the house away from Colt.
Colin Gray was emotional when he took the stand on Friday in his own defense, acknowledging, "I could have done more."
He was the only witness the defense called.
The elder Gray described himself as a dad who "wanted to make it work," raising his three children, apart from his estranged wife, amid arguments with Colt, financial strain and work.
Colin Gray's attorneys said he got the weapon for Colt as a Christmas present so the two could bond over deer hunting and target practice.
(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Donna Bryson and Bill Berkrot)
