The Father Of A Teenager Suspected Of Shooting At A Georgia High School Was Arrested By Officials For Allowing His Son To Have A Weapon

Illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Tony Webster)

JAKARTA - Georgia State Authority on Thursday arrested the father of a 14-year-old teenager suspected of being involved in a school shooting that killed four people and injured nine others the day before, saying the father consciously allowed his son to have a murder weapon.

Colin Gray, 54, has been charged with four counts of accidental murder, two counts of second-degree murder, and eight counts of atrocities against children, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.

"This charge stems from Mr. Gray knowingly letting his son totaly have weapons," Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, told a news conference.

Meanwhile, his son, Total Gray (14) has been charged with four counts of serious murder and will stand trial as an adult, officials said.

The charges were imposed on Friday morning before a judge of the Georgia High Court in badminton County via video cameras.

Georgia state investigators and cap County said Gray used an "AR platform weapon," or a semi-automatic rifle, to carry out an attack that killed two teachers and two 14-year-old students.

It remains unclear exactly how his son owns the weapon.

Meanwhile, Colin Gray told investigators this week he had purchased the weapons used in the killings as holiday gifts for his son in December 2023, according to two sources of law enforcement who knew firsthand about the investigation, quoted by CNN.

One source told CNN the AR-15 model rifle was purchased at a local gun shop as a Christmas gift last year. The timeline given by the teenager's father to authorities showed the purchase of the weapon was carried out months after authorities first contacted Gray and his family to investigate the threat of shooting at an online school.

Jackson County Sheriff's Office in Georgia closed the investigation because information about the threat could not be proven.

Investigators have not commented on what might have motivated the shooting at Apalachee High School, Winder, the first mass shooting at Uncle Sam's State school since the beginning of the school year.

In addition to the death toll, nine people were injured as a result of the shooting. Two teachers and seven students were injured in the attack, some of whom have been discharged from hospital, Sheriff chance County Jud Smith told reporters.

"Nine people were injured, I am very happy to say, will recover completely," Smith told reporters.

The charges against the father could be a new strategy in the United States' efforts to stop the school's shooting epidemic.

Last April, the mother and father of a Michigan teenager were sentenced to between 10 and 15 years in prison, after the jury found them guilty of murder after their son shot and killed four of his classmates.

It is believed this is the first time parents have been legally responsible for their children's actions in school shootings.

Separately, experts and weapons safety advocates say the Michigan case is an important step in holding parents accountable for school violence committed by their children.