Trial to begin in Georgia for the father of the Apalachee High School
shooting suspect
[February 09, 2026]
By KATE BRUMBACK
ATLANTA (AP) — Jury selection is set to begin Monday in the trial of a
man whose teenage son is accused of killing two students and two
teachers at a Georgia high school in September 2024.
Colin Gray faces 29 counts, including two counts of second-degree
murder, two counts of involuntary manslaughter and numerous counts of
second-degree cruelty to children related to the shooting at Apalachee
High School in Winder. He is one of a handful of parents around the
country charged with crimes after their children are accused of
committing acts of violence.
An indictment says Gray committed cruelty to children by giving his son,
Colt, access to a gun and ammunition “after receiving sufficient warning
that Colt Gray would harm and endanger the bodily safety of another.”
Second-degree murder, an unusual charge under Georgia law, is defined as
causing the death of a child by committing the crime of cruelty to
children.
Killed in the shooting were teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina
Irimie, 53, and two 14-year-old students, Mason Schermerhorn and
Christian Angulo. Another teacher and eight other students were wounded.
The shooting
Investigators have said Colt Gray, who was 14 at the time, carefully
planned the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting at the school northeast of Atlanta
that is attended by 1,900 students.
He wrote step-by-step plans for the assault in a notebook, including
diagrams and potential body counts, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation
agent testified at a hearing the month after the shooting.
With a semiautomatic, assault-style rifle in his book bag, the barrel
sticking out and wrapped in poster board, he boarded the school bus,
investigators said. He left his second-period class and emerged from a
bathroom with the gun and then shot people in a classroom and hallways,
investigators said.
Accusations against the father
Colin Gray had given his son the gun as a gift the Christmas before the
shooting and later, at his son's request, bought a larger magazine so
the weapon could hold more rounds, an investigator testified during a
pretrial hearing.
Colin Gray knew his son was obsessed with school shooters, even having a
shrine in his bedroom to Nikolas Cruz, the shooter in the 2018 massacre
at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida,
prosecutors have said. A GBI agent testified that the teen's parents had
discussed their son’s fascination with school shooters but decided that
it was in a joking context and not a serious issue.
Colin Gray was also aware his son's mental health had deteriorated,
investigators testified. Seeking help from a counseling service weeks
before the shooting, he wrote about his son: “We have had a very
difficult past couple of years and he needs help. Anger, anxiety, quick
to be volatile. I don’t know what to do.”
The trial
The trial will be held in Winder, in Barrow County, where Apalachee High
School is located. But jury selection will take place in Gainesville, in
Hall County, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) away.
Colin Gray's lawyer had sought a change of venue, arguing publicity may
have tainted the opinion of potential Barrow County jurors. Prosecutors
agreed, noting the impact the shooting had on the community.
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Colin Gray, the father of Apalachee High School shooting suspect
Colt Gray, arrives to the courtroom at the Barrow County courthouse
on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, in Winder,Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson,
File)
The defense was unhappy with the judge's selection of Hall County for
the jury pool, acknowledging the convenience for jurors but arguing it
was too close, remaining “within the geographic epicenter of this
tragedy.”
The judge in the case set bond for Gray at $500,000, but he has remained
in custody since he was arrested the day after shooting.
It's unknown how long jury selection will take after it begins Monday or
how long the trial will last once testimony gets underway. The judge has
blocked off three weeks for jury selection and the trial.
Other cases against parents
There have been a number of cases around the country where prosecutors
have chosen to charge parents when they believe there is evidence a
parent contributed to violence attributed to a child.
Jennifer and James Crumbley were the first parents in the U.S. to be
held criminally responsible for a mass shooting at a school by a child.
They were convicted months before the shooting at Apalachee High School
and are serving 10-year prison terms for involuntary manslaughter.
Their son, Ethan Crumbley, killed four students and wounded others at
Michigan’s Oxford High School in 2021. Prosecutors faulted the Crumbleys
for not securing a firearm at home and acting indifferently to signs of
their son’s deteriorating mental health. They said Ethan’s actions were
foreseeable and the parents had failed to prevent the violence.
Jeffrey Rupnow is charged with intentionally giving a dangerous weapon
to a person under 18 causing death. His daughter, Natalie Rupnow, 15,
killed a student and a teacher at Abundant Life Christian School in
Madison, Wisconsin, and killed herself in December 2024.
Robert Crimo Jr. pleaded guilty to misdemeanors and was sentenced for
endorsing his son’s Illinois gun permit in 2019 despite knowing Robert
Crimo III had expressed suicidal thoughts. Crimo III killed seven people
in 2022 at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, a northern suburb
of Chicago.
The case against Colt Gray
Colt Gray was indicted on a total of 55 counts, including murder in the
deaths of four people and 25 counts of aggravated assault. He has
pleaded not guilty, but a lawyer for the teen said during a hearing in
May that his client would likely be ready to plead guilty after a
psychologist's report was prepared.
New lawyers have started representing him since then. At a brief hearing
in December, the judge said a status hearing in the case would be held
in mid-March.
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