The father who gave his son and school shooter, Colt Gray, guns that were used to kill four people has received 15 years in prison.
Colin Gray was sentenced on Thursday, making him one of the few American parents who have also suffered criminal sentences for the actions of their children.
Colin was found guilty of second-degree murder for the deaths of Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14. He received involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of the two teachers, Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53.
His son, Colt, now 16, was sentenced to life in prison for the September 2024 shooting at Apalachee High School, which saw eight students and one teacher also wounded.
Colt received a semiautomatic rifle and ammunition from his father as a Christmas present.
The then-14-year-old carried the weapon onto a school bus with the poster board-wrapped barrel sticking out of his bag.
During a second-period bathroom break, the teenager pulled the gun out of his bag in the bathroom and began shooting students and teachers in the hallway, investigators said.
Prosecutors said Colin had missed several signs of deteriorating mental health in his son, including that his son was in a true crime community, where they openly discussed their obsessions with mass shooters, WHSV reported.
Colin Gray has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for his son, Colt, killing four people in a school shooting in September 2024
Colin’s ex-wife, and Colt’s mother, had asked the father to secure all weapons in the house leading up to the shooting, investigators said.
However, Colin’s attorneys argued that the teenager ‘actively hid the depth of his involvement’ in online communities, and that Colt seemed happy and like a normal teen who liked his video games and going into the woods with his dad prior to the tragedy.
His lawyers also argued a 15-year sentence would be a death sentence for the 55-year-old, and would equivalent to giving him the same sentence as Colt.
