UNITED STATES NEWS

With father of suspect charged in Georgia shooting, will more parents be held responsible?

Sep 7, 2024, 6:03 AM

Murder charges filed against the father of a 14-year-old boy accused of a Georgia school shooting follow the successful prosecution of two parents in Michigan who were held responsible for a similar tragedy at a school north of Detroit.

Is it a sign of a crackdown on parents accused of gross negligence when it comes to kids and guns? Could public outrage lead to more prosecutions or changes in law in other states, too?

“It’s a matter of looking at the relationship between what the child says and does and what the parent knows about what the child says and does,” said David Shapiro, a former prosecutor who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

Colin Gray, 54, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and second-degree murder related to the deaths of two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Winder, outside Atlanta. Nine more people were wounded.

Gray’s son, Colt Gray, is charged with murder. Investigators said he used a “semi-automatic AR-15 style rifle” in the attack.

The charges against Colin Gray “are directly connected with the actions of his son and allowing him to possess a weapon,” said Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Milestone in Michigan

James and Jennifer Crumbley were convicted of involuntary manslaughter earlier this year for the deaths of four students at Oxford High School in 2021. It was the first time that parents were held criminally responsible for a U.S. mass school shooting. They’re serving 10-year prison terms while appeals are pending.

The Crumbleys didn’t know what son Ethan Crumbley was planning. But prosecutor Karen McDonald said their son’s actions were foreseeable. They were summoned to discuss the 15-year-old’s macabre drawings of a gun and blood on a math assignment and a message, “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me. My life is useless.”

The Crumbleys declined to take him home but said they would seek counseling. On that same day, Ethan Crumbley removed a gun from his backpack and began shooting, using a weapon that James Crumbley had purchased as a gift just a few days earlier. No one — parents or school staff — had checked the backpack.

The parents’ “actions and inactions were inexorably intertwined” with what their son ultimately did at Oxford, the allowed to move forward.

The Georgia case

Prosecutor Brad Smith declined to publicly disclose details that led him to charge Colin Gray in the Apalachee shooting. But in arrest warrants, authorities said he had provided a gun to his son “with knowledge that he was threat to himself and others.”

Smith acknowledged the Michigan case during a news conference Friday and said his case was a first for Georgia.

“I’m not trying to send a message,” he said. “I’m just trying to use the tools in my arsenal to prosecute people for the crimes they commit.”

Colin Gray was interviewed last year when authorities were investigating his son about a menacing post on social media. The father said the teen “knows the seriousness of weapons and what they can do, and how to use them and not use them,” according to a transcript. Nothing more was pursued.

McDonald, the prosecutor in Michigan, said the Georgia shooting and the father’s arrest was a “real punch in the stomach.”

“I can’t believe the facts that stood out as so egregious in our case seem to be so similar,” she told The Associated Press.

More scrutiny for parents?

McDonald said states have laws that carry consequences for gross negligence in various situations. She said it’s encouraging that police in Georgia immediately investigated how the gun was obtained.

“I have never felt it was a moment that would open the floodgates to charges against parents or sending a message to people,” McDonald said of the Crumbley case. “Most people don’t need that message. It’s heartbreaking to watch it play out.”

She said it takes only seconds to put a lock on a gun, which she demonstrated for a jury.

Shapiro, the former New Jersey prosecutor, said all states likely have laws that can be used to hold parents responsible, though much depends on the facts and a prosecutor’s views.

“You don’t want to be able to allow parents to overlook those kinds of signs there is something seriously wrong or a serious risk,” he said.

Michigan has a new law this year that requires adults to keep guns locked up when minors are present. In Newaygo County, a grandfather pleaded no contest in August in the death of a 5-year-old grandson. Another boy had picked up and fired a loaded shotgun.

“If people simply locked up their firearms, we would not be putting parents behind bars for this reason,” said Kris Brown, the president of Brady, a gun violence prevention group. “And we would not be digging as many graves.”

___

AP reporters Kate Brumback in Atlanta and Lindsay Whitehurst in Washington contributed to this story.

___

Follow Ed White at https://twitter.com/edwritez

Comments

Comment guidelines: No name-calling, personal attacks, profanity, or insults. Please keep the conversation civil and help us moderate comments by reporting abuse.
comments powered by Disqus

United States News

President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in ...

Associated Press

OpenAI looks across US for sites to build its Trump-backed Stargate AI data centers

OpenAI is scouring the U.S. for sites to build a network of huge data centers to power its artificial intelligence technology, expanding beyond a flagship Texas location and looking across 16 states to accelerate the Stargate project championed by President Donald Trump. The maker of ChatGPT put out a request for proposals and began visiting […]

25 minutes ago

File - In this June 30, 2011 file photo is an exterior view of San Jose State University in San Jos...

Associated Press

San Jose State and Penn face inquiries in Trump crackdown on transgender athletes

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is investigating potential civil rights violations at two universities and a high school sports league that allowed transgender athletes to compete on women’s teams, the Education Department said Thursday. The agency is opening reviews at San Jose State University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association. […]

37 minutes ago

Associated Press

Man charged after pregnant woman dies in attempt to cross US-Canada border

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (AP) — A man extradited from Canada was arraigned on human smuggling charges Thursday in the case of a 33-year-old pregnant woman found dead in a frigid northern New York river after she illegally crossed the border, according to federal authorities. The body of Ana Vasquez-Flores of Mexico was found in the Great […]

37 minutes ago

FILE - A lone home stands among residences levelled by the Eaton Fire in Altadena, Calif., on Tuesd...

Associated Press

‘Voice of the CDC’ resumes publication, but experts worry about what they’re not hearing

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal scientific publication on Thursday returned from a forced two-week hiatus with two papers examining the health effects of wildfires in Hawaii and California. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resumed the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which the Trump administration suspended as part of a “pause” on regulations, […]

1 hour ago

Associated Press

Providence and hospital doctors reach tentative agreement in Oregon’s 27-day health care strike

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Providence and dozens of doctors at a hospital in Portland, Oregon, have reached a tentative agreement after 27 days of strike, bringing what has been described as the state’s largest health care strike closer to a potential end, depending on union ratification. The tentative agreement with hospital doctors and palliative care […]

1 hour ago

FILE - The smartphone apps DeepSeek page is seen on a smartphone screen in Beijing, Tuesday, Jan. 2...

Associated Press

House lawmakers push to ban AI app DeepSeek from US government devices

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan duo in the the U.S. House is proposing legislation to ban the Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek from federal devices, similar to the policy already in place for the popular social media platform TikTok. Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Darin LaHood, R-Ill., on Thursday introduced the “No DeepSeek on Government […]

2 hours ago

Sponsored Articles

...

Collins Comfort Masters

Collins Comfort Masters: Your go-to plumbing experts in Arizona

Collins Comfort Masters, a trusted name in HVAC, water and plumbing since 1985, is you go-to plumbers for the residents of Phoenix and the Valley.

...

Fiesta Bowl Foundation

Join us for the 52nd annual Vrbo Fiesta Bowl Parade

The 52nd annual Vrbo Fiesta Bowl Parade presented by Lerner & Rowe returns on Saturday, December 28, at 10 a.m.

...

Day & Night Air Conditioning, Heating and Plumbing

Why a Heating Tune-Up is Essential Before Winter

PHOENIX, AZ — With cooler weather on the horizon, making sure your heating system is prepped and ready can make all the difference in staying comfortable this winter.

With father of suspect charged in Georgia shooting, will more parents be held responsible?