ATLANTA (AP) – In a rare case of a parent being charged after a school shooting, a judge on Tuesday gave the father of a 14-year-old boy a $500,000 bond. A fatal attack At North Georgia High School.
Colin Gray is innocent to 29 counts, including two-degree murder and two involuntary manslaughter charges in connection with the September 4 massive shooting at Winder’s Appalachie High School. I recognize that.
Gray, 54, and his son, Colt Gray; Both were indicted In the shooting that killed Two students and two teachers And several others were injured. Both have pleaded innocence over the accusations they face.
Colin Gray He gave his son an attack style weapon as a Christmas present. And he knew that the child’s mental health had deteriorated a few weeks before the shooting, investigators testified at an earlier hearing. The father also knew that his son was obsessed with school shooters and had a shrine on his computer at home for the 2018 Parkland gunman in Florida, Florida, prosecutors said. I say it.
Some were broken in tears as relatives of several dead and injured spoke at Tuesday’s hearing, and they explained the loss of their loved ones. They accused his father of unconfined and jailed while awaiting trial.
“At the end of the day, I hope he will be buried under prison and not be allowed to affect other children,” Breanna Schermerhorn said. 14 year old son Mason He was killed in the attack.
“You, what your family is going through, what your community is going through is undeniable pain, and I understand that,” Judge Nick Plim said.
“This case is an open pain and a wound that continues to hurt the community,” he added.
Colin Gray’s attorney, Jimmy Berry, said the state hasn’t proven that if his father is released on bonds it will pose a threat.
“The purpose of the pretrial bond is not to punish him before his beliefs,” Berry said.
The judge said he was bound by law when deciding on bonds. Gray is presumed to be innocent and the law “doesn’t allow me to be emotional,” he said.
Georgia’s bond case law considers whether Gray is at risk of running away, whether he poses a risk to the community, and whether he attempts to threaten his witnesses. The judge said there was no evidence that it would happen if the bond was granted. Gray was ordered not to come into contact with the witness. If he can’t post money, he will remain in jail.
The judge said he doesn’t believe Gray will be able to return to Winder, a small town northeast of Atlanta, while he awaits trial. “In the court of public opinion, he has a scar-colored letter,” he said.
Before Primum issued his sentence, Colin Gray testified that if Bond was given, he would live with his sister in Cherokee County, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) from Winder.
Colt Gray has been charged as an adult and has been charged with 55 counts including murder and aggravated assault at high school. His father faces 29 charges, including two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of unwilling manslaughter. Both face multiple numbers of cruelty towards children.
The shooting killed 39-year-old Richard Aspinwall and 53-year-old Christina Illimee, as well as 14-year-old Mason Shermerhorn and Christian Anglo students.
Colin Gray is the first adult to be charged with school shooting in Georgia. His indictment is the latest example of a prosecutor who retains parents responsible for the child’s actions in school shootings. Michigan parents Jennifer and James Crumby were first convicted of shootings at a large US school, but they didn’t secure firearms at home, causing signs of deteriorating mental health for their son. He was sentenced to at least 10 years for acting indifferently. He killed four students in 2021.
Investigators said Colt Gray took a semi-automatic attack style rifle to the school bus. The barrel sticks out of his book bag and is wrapped in a poster board. They say Boy carefully plots the shootings at a high school of 1,900 people northeast of Atlanta, drawing diagrams and lists potential body numbers in his notebook. He left class in second term and emerged from the bathroom with his rifle before shooting people in classrooms and hallways.
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