A Georgia man, Colin Gray, was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being convicted of multiple charges for giving his teenage son the assault rifle later used in the deadly Apalachee High School shooting. The Barrow County jury found Gray guilty of second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, and other offenses in March, after prosecutors showed that he gave the AR-15-style weapon to his son, Colt Gray, as a Christmas gift despite warnings about the teen's violent obsessions and threats.

Prosecutors argued that the elder Gray ignored repeated signs that his son was fascinated with notorious mass shootings and failed to act after his son had previously threatened to attack an elementary school. Instead, Gray gifted the weapon the teen later used to kill two students and two teachers, and injure several others at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia.

The younger Gray, who was 14 at the time of the attack, pleaded guilty to all charges earlier this week and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Investigators revealed that the teen had a shrine in his bedroom dedicated to mass shooters and was fixated on the Columbine and Sandy Hook tragedies. Prosecutors presented evidence that the father had been warned about these interests, but failed to secure help for his son or restrict his access to firearms.

Victims’ families testified during the sentencing, urging the court to impose the maximum punishment. Maria Schermerhorn, whose son Mason was killed, said, "Even 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."

Defense attorneys for Gray maintained that he never intended harm and requested a lighter sentence, arguing that ten years in prison would be one of the most severe punishments ever imposed on a parent for the actions of their child. Judge Nicholas Primm, however, sided with prosecutors, who said Gray "ignored a substantial and unjustifiable risk" by providing the weapon. The jury deliberated less than two hours before convicting Gray on 27 counts.

The case is among a handful in the United States where parents have been held criminally responsible for mass shootings committed by their children. The Apalachee High School attack left students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, and teachers Richard Aspinwall and Cristina Irimie, dead. Seven more students and a teacher were wounded, most by gunfire.

Gray’s sentencing follows recent similar convictions of parents involved in school shootings in Michigan and Illinois. Prosecutors emphasized that the outcome serves as a warning to gun owners about the consequences of ignoring warning signs in their homes.