{"id":3417,"date":"2026-07-30T17:48:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T17:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=3417"},"modified":"2026-07-30T17:48:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T17:48:48","slug":"apalachee-high-school-shooters-father-sentenced-to-15-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=3417","title":{"rendered":"Apalachee High School shooter\u2019s father sentenced to 15 years"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

WINDER, Ga.\u2014<\/strong> A man who gifted his 14-year-old son an assault rifle that he then used to unleash a mass shooting at a Georgia high school was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison.<\/p>\n

Read more Tomi Adeyemi says she left set of film adaption of her \u2018Children of Blood and Bone\u2019 in tears, is being \u2018antagonized\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

A jury in March convicted the man, Colin Gray, on multiple charges, including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, over the Christmas gift his son used in the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting at Apalachee High School. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

In rendering his sentence, Judge Nicholas Primm said he had to measure Gray\u2019s failure to act against the crimes committed by his son. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t get to sentence with passion. I have the nearly impossible task of sentencing you without passion, despite the immeasurable heartache that you\u2019ve caused,\u201d Primm said. \u201cOn September 4, 2024, lives and families were forever altered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gray gave the weapon to his son, Colt Gray, even when a few months earlier law enforcement had come to the Gray home because the teenager had threatened to shoot up an elementary school, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe weight of your crimes is tethered and tied to the acts of someone else, your son,\u201d Primm said. \u201cTwo scenarios: you fail the same way in both. You fail to get Colt counseling. You fail to remove the guns from the house.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

The younger Gray, now 16, was sentenced to life without parole for the shooting, which left two students and two teachers dead. Another teacher and eight more students were wounded, seven of them by gunfire.<\/p>\n

The shooter was 14 at the time of the attack but was charged as an adult. His trial had been scheduled to begin in mid-October until he pleaded guilty without reaching a deal with prosecutors. He declined to address the courtroom at his own sentencing. <\/p>\n

The teenager was obsessed with mass killers, and prosecutors played jailhouse phone calls with his mother in which he appeared to relish the attention the massacre brought him.<\/p>\n

Investigators said he had become particularly fixated on the perpetrators of the 1999 Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, and the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.<\/p>\n

The victims of the Apalachee High School shooting were students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, and teachers Richard \u201cRicky\u201d Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53.<\/p>\n

Several victims\u2019 family members testified Thursday, asking that the elder Gray receive the maximum sentence.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump threatens to pull Todd Blanche\u2019s AG nomination until after GOP holdouts leave office<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Aspinwall\u2019s wife, who is also a high school teacher, condemned him for failing to be a \u201cresponsible gun owner.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat if another student shot me at school? My kids would have no parents because we were both teachers that aspired to help students learn, not be on the front line,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Maria Schermerhorn, Mason\u2019s mother, rejected the elder Gray\u2019s defense that he was a newly single father, noting that she, too, had once been a single teenage mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cParenting is hard. Parenting alone is even harder. I know that because I lived it…but there is a world of difference between struggling to parent and refusing to parent,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven as a young single mother, I understood something that Mr. Gray apparently did not … I could not control every choice my children would eventually make, but I was responsible for controlling what I put into their hands,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The shooter\u2019s father showed little emotion as the victims\u2019 families spoke.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Brian Hobbs, one of the elder Gray\u2019s attorneys, argued his client should not be severely sentenced for his son\u2019s crimes, and asked that he receive 10 years in prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is not lenience,\u201d Hobbs said. \u201cTen years in a Georgia prison for a man who never intended to harm a single human being is among the most severe sentences ever imposed on a parent in American history for the act of the child.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hobbs also suggested that the younger Gray\u2019s mother, Marcee Gray, bore more responsibility than his client for fostering the teen\u2019s obsession with school shooters. Marcee Gray has not been charged in connection with the shooting.<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Brad Smith said the elder Gray was \u201cconvicted of ignoring a substantial and unjustifiable risk\u201d and that \u201cthe court needs to look at the nature of the risk he ignored\u201d by sentencing him to the maximum.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was the risk he was ignoring-that there would be a mass shooting of children at a school-and he gave his son the exact tool he would need to accomplish this,\u201d said Smith. \u201cHe is the reason four people are dead, seven were injured, and countless others were traumatized. And he is the reason a 16-year-old boy was sentenced two days ago to the rest of his life in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Packers career rushing leader Ahman Green says he has early onset Parkinson\u2019s disease<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colin Gray, the man who gifted his son an assault rifle the teenager used to shoot up a Georgia high school in 2024 was sentenced to prison on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guns-in-america"],"yoast_head":"\nApalachee High School shooter\u2019s father sentenced to 15 years - Trusted Moving Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=3417\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Apalachee High School shooter\u2019s father sentenced to 15 years - Trusted Moving Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Colin Gray, the man who gifted his son an assault rifle the teenager used to shoot up a Georgia high school in 2024 was sentenced to prison on Thursday.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=3417\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Trusted Moving Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-30T17:48:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=3417#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=3417\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/98cd83efb686ecde03e082abca618eaa\"},\"headline\":\"Apalachee High School shooter\u2019s father sentenced to 15 years\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-30T17:48:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=3417\"},\"wordCount\":829,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=3417#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/5b0249eb1e322b1d95f6a4863426f4bb.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Guns in America\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=3417#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=3417\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=3417\",\"name\":\"Apalachee High School shooter\u2019s father sentenced to 15 years - Trusted Moving Group\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=3417#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=3417#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/5b0249eb1e322b1d95f6a4863426f4bb.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-30T17:48:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/98cd83efb686ecde03e082abca618eaa\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=3417#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=3417\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=3417#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/5b0249eb1e322b1d95f6a4863426f4bb.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/5b0249eb1e322b1d95f6a4863426f4bb.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=3417#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Apalachee High School shooter\u2019s father sentenced to 15 years\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Trusted Moving Group\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/98cd83efb686ecde03e082abca618eaa\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Apalachee High School shooter\u2019s father sentenced to 15 years - Trusted Moving Group","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=3417","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Apalachee High School shooter\u2019s father sentenced to 15 years - Trusted Moving Group","og_description":"Colin Gray, the man who gifted his son an assault rifle the teenager used to shoot up a Georgia high school in 2024 was sentenced to prison on Thursday.","og_url":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=3417","og_site_name":"Trusted Moving Group","article_published_time":"2026-07-30T17:48:48+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=3417#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=3417"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/#\/schema\/person\/98cd83efb686ecde03e082abca618eaa"},"headline":"Apalachee High School shooter\u2019s father sentenced to 15 years","datePublished":"2026-07-30T17:48:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=3417"},"wordCount":829,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=3417#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5b0249eb1e322b1d95f6a4863426f4bb.webp","articleSection":["Guns in America"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=3417#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=3417","url":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=3417","name":"Apalachee High School shooter\u2019s father sentenced to 15 years - Trusted Moving Group","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=3417#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=3417#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5b0249eb1e322b1d95f6a4863426f4bb.webp","datePublished":"2026-07-30T17:48:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/#\/schema\/person\/98cd83efb686ecde03e082abca618eaa"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=3417#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=3417"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=3417#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5b0249eb1e322b1d95f6a4863426f4bb.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5b0249eb1e322b1d95f6a4863426f4bb.webp","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=3417#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Apalachee High School shooter\u2019s father sentenced to 15 years"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/","name":"Trusted Moving Group","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/#\/schema\/person\/98cd83efb686ecde03e082abca618eaa","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com"],"url":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}