(News Nation) — A father and son have both been charged in connection with a shooting at a Georgia high school on Wednesday, but only one has been accused of firing the shots that killed four people.
Police have arrested 14-year-old Colt Gray and his father, Collin Gray, in connection with the shooting. Two other students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, and teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimy, 53, were killed in the shooting at Apalachee High School, about 50 miles outside of Atlanta.
The boy and his father appeared briefly in a Barrow County courtroom on Friday where a judge explained the charges and potential penalties to them. They remain in custody.
This is the second high-profile case in which prosecutors have charged a suspect's parent. Following the conviction in the Oxford, Michigan school shooting, the indictment filed this week raises questions about who should be held accountable, and for what, when a child commits a serious crime.
What crimes are the suspects being charged with?
Colt Gray is charged as an adult with four counts of felony murder, one for each person killed in the shooting.
Felony murder is not just murder that is charged as a felony. It is a separate crime with its own standards and penalties. Prosecutors apply this charge when someone dies while the defendant is committing, attempting to commit, or aiding and abetting another crime. In Georgia, this includes robbery, arson, rape, kidnapping, aggravated assault, and child abuse.
In that case, investigators say the victim died while the suspect was committing an aggravated assault, court records show. Felony Murder You can also apply In cases where a defendant (a person charged with a crime) is accused of possessing a weapon on school grounds, Georgia Law.
Unlike first-degree murder, prosecutors in felony murder cases do not have to prove that the defendant intended to kill someone, said Sarah Azari, NewsNation legal reporter.
“You don't need the intent to kill because you committed another felony,” she said, “so the felony supersedes the requirement of intent to kill.”
Each charge of felony murder normally carries a maximum penalty of death or life in prison, Judge Callie Mingledorf said, but because the suspect is under 18, the death penalty cannot be imposed.
Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith said prosecutors may file additional charges against the 14-year-old boy. He said future charges will likely result from non-fatal injuries sustained by others during the shooting.
What crimes is the suspect's father facing?
The boy's father, Collin Gray, is charged with manslaughter, second-degree murder and child abuse. According to an affidavit attached to the arrest warrant, Gray was negligent in providing his son with a firearm knowing that he posed a threat to himself or others. The affidavit alleges that this negligence caused “excessive physical pain” to the 14-year-old victim, amounting to child abuse.
Prosecutors said in court documents that the brutality led to the students' deaths and that they were charged with second-degree murder.
The defendants also face four counts of manslaughter, alleging that the father acted recklessly by providing his son with a weapon.
Second-degree murder is punishable by up to 30 years in prison, while manslaughter and child abuse both carry maximum sentences of 10 years in prison.
Why does this incident matter on a larger scale?
This is the second high-profile school shooting case in which prosecutors have charged a suspect's parents.
Earlier this year, Jennifer and James Crumbly became the first parents in the United States to be convicted of manslaughter for a shooting they did not commit.
Their son, 17-year-old Ethan Crumbly, Serving a life sentence About the 2021 shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan that left four people dead.
Prosecutors said the shooting could have been prevented by removing the boy, who was 15 at the time, from school because his parents did not store the gun safely. They learned about the worrying painting He made it just hours before the shooting.
In the wake of such a novel and nationally high-profile case, Azari said the public may be too eager to blame the parents of the Georgia shooting suspect.
“I don't know if we have similar facts here,” she said. “We don't know enough about the parent's role in this particular shooting.”
Crumbley's parents bought him a gun and took him to a shooting range to test it out. The boy's lawyer also said the parents neglected their teenage son and argued he was “caught in a downward spiral” at the time of the shooting.
Azari said if appeals in either the Oxford shooting or the Georgia shooting make it to the U.S. Supreme Court, the ruling could affect how future cases are prosecuted.
“Maybe we can start to set a precedent of, 'Where do we draw the line?'” Azari said. “Is it enough that someone gets killed simply because a parent allows someone to have access to a gun, or do we need something more egregious like the Cranbury incident? Or shouldn't a parent be indirectly responsible for the actions of their son?”
