Father of 14-year-old boy accused in deadly Georgia school shooting pleads not guilty

Father of 14-year-old boy charged with murder deadly mass shooting A student at Apalachee High School in Georgia pleaded not guilty to charges against him on Thursday.

Colin Gray He was not in court, but his lawyers told the judge during a brief hearing that their client had pleaded not guilty and waived a formal hearing. In Georgia, it is common for defendants to enter a plea and waive a hearing.

Gray and his son, Colt Gray, were charged in connection with the Sept. 4 shooting. killed two students and two teachers and injured others. Colt Gray is charged as an adult and charged with 55 felonies, including murder and 25 counts of aggravated assault in high school. His father was charged with 29 felonies, including two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of involuntary manslaughter. Both face multiple atrocities against children.

Colt Gray pleaded not guilty last month and also waived his trial.

Colt Gray is being held in a juvenile detention center in Gainesville, while Colin Gray, 54, is being held in the Barrow County jail. Neither of them requested bail.

Teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, died in the shooting. Another teacher and eight students were injured, seven of whom were hit by gunfire.

Colin Gray became the first adult to be charged with a school shooting in Georgia. The indictment is the latest example of prosecutors holding parents responsible for their children’s actions in school shootings. Michigan parents Jennifer and James CrumbleyThe first person convicted in the US in a mass school shooting has been sentenced to at least 10 years in prison for not having a firearm at home and for being indifferent to signs of his sons’ mental health deterioration before killing four students in 2021.

Investigators said Colt Gray was carrying a semi-automatic assault-style rifle onto a school bus, its barrel sticking out of his book bag wrapped in a piece of poster board. They say the boy carefully planned the attack at the 1,900-student high school in northeast Atlanta, drawing diagrams and listing possible body counts in a notebook. He left his second period class and emerged from the bathroom with a rifle before shooting people in the classroom and hallways.

Last month officials Details in the notebooks of the alleged attacker revealed It contained violent drawings as well as detailed plans of the attack. Witnesses testified that Colin Gray knew about his son’s mental health difficulties but bought him a laser sight, tactical vest and ammunition in the months before the shooting.

Investigators also said the alleged shooter made a “shrine” in his room to school shooters and hung a picture of the Parkland shooter who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. His statements revealed that his father was aware of this incident. obsession with school shooters, and the teen was even said to have discussed the Parkland shooting with his grandmother about a week before the shooting.