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So we've got some major news out of a state court in Georgia that has national ramifications when it comes to the criminal liability that parents and caretakers of children can have when those children turn out to be mass casualty school shooters. So this is out of Georgia. And you may have seen some of the headlines and you may have seen this one. This, this is from today. A Georgia father has just been sentenced to 15 years in state prison because he bought and provided the gun that was used by his son who at the time was 14 years old when he went to school. And he shot up and he killed four people, two students and two adults that were at the school. The father's name is Colin Gray. And I just want you to listen right now to what the presiding judge, Nicholas Prim, had to say today during Colin Gray's sentencing. Take a listen.
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And you failed to do the simplest things to prevent this. You had gun locks and you didn't use them. You could have got a hundred something dollars safe and put the guns in the safe. If you had done that, you wouldn't be here today. You could have removed the ammo in the magazines from the house and if you'd done that, you wouldn't be here today. You could have let someone else hold the guns while you got Colt help. If you'd done that, you wouldn't be here today. If you had done any of those things. Ms. Jeremy, Mr. Aspinwall, Mason Christian would be here today.
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I mean, you want to talk about lost opportunity cost, the cost was four lives. And it's pretty outrageous when you get into the facts of not only Colin Gray's criminal liability here, but also his son Colt Gray, the actual mass shooter. Let's just focus on Colin Gray for now because it's incredibly important when you think about it in the context of what his son did Now. Colin Gray again sentenced to 15 years in prison today by a Georgia state state judge. A jury of Colin Gray's peers convicted him in March of this year on multiple counts including second degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. Now, you might stop yourself and say, wait, wait. It's not like Colin Gray went and pulled the trigger himself, but this was a very interesting theory that was pursued by the prosecution in this instance. And it went beyond the kind of, quote, normal bounds of parental liability or criminal exposure for maybe they negligently failed to do something to stop their child from committing a mass casualty event like a school shooting. Why is Colin Gray's situation different? Well, he gave a Christmas gift In December of 2025, the firearm. Excuse me. In December of 2023. Excuse me. The firearm that his son Colt Gray used in the September 4, 2024 shooting at Appalachia High School. Colin Gray gave his son Colt the weapon that was used to kill for and wound others. After just a few months after law enforcement came and met with him and his son because his son had threatened to shoot up in elementary school. I'm going to repeat this for the people in the cheap seats. Colin Gray met with law enforcement authorities just months prior to him buying the Christmas gift of the gun that was used to kill four people, two kids and two adults at his son's school. Why did law enforcement come? Because Colt Gray had threatened to shoot up an elementary school. So as a parent, you're going to then go and buy a gun and give it to your son as a Christmas gift, knowing that this kid has already threatened to shoot up in elementary school. That, my friends, is why Colin Gray was convicted of second degree murder and other charges. Okay, so let's get a little bit into the details of Colin Gray's case before we talk about Colt Gray's case. So Colin Gray as the father, according to the prosecution, this was their theory of their case. Colin Gray knowingly bought the rifle that was used by his son to commit the murders. Colin Gray intentionally, willingly, and knowingly ignored warning signs, huge red flags that his son was potentially going to do harm to others. Colin Gray knew that his son's mental state was deteriorating, knew that his son had a fascination with school shootings and other mass casualty events. Colin Gray, as we heard from Judge Prim, had the chance to be able to secure that weapon and others because there was evidence that was presented during the case that there were multiple firearms in the home. But Colin Gray did not exercise or use or implement any of the available resources to him, including lockboxes. Just taking the guns out of the home, knowing that his kid had a fascination with school shooters and that his mental status was deteriorating. Colin Gray did nothing. And he obviously affirmatively encouraged that. Colin, Excuse me. That Colt had access to the guns by doing what? Not securing them, encouraging it. And also, yeah, buying his son the rifle that was used to commit those four murders and give it to him as a Christmas gift. As I mentioned a few minutes ago, There was a May 2023 FBI investigation. May of 2023, just before the December 2023 Christmas gift of this rifle, where local deputies interviewed Colt Gray about online threats he had made about committing a school shooting at a local elementary School investigators may have lacked enough evidence to arrest Colt for the crime at that time, but that investigation should have been a huge red flag for the father, Colin Gray, and should have been at least one reason why Colin Gray should not have given his son the weapon, the rifle, for a Christmas gift. Georgia prosecutors again pursued a unique, unique case against Colin Gray and went beyond just recklessly storing a firearm. These prosecutors, they were bold. They went for second degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, second degree cruelty to children and reckless conduct. And again, the theory was that Colin was so criminally negligent that he directly contributed to the murders at issue here. It makes sense when you hear it. Right now, some of you may be remembering the case out of Michigan. Do you remember a Michigan school Shooter who killed four students in 2021 and his name was Ethan Crumbley and his parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley, they were the very first criminal prosecution success, or frankly any. It was the very first criminal prosecution at all of parents of a school shooter, of a minor school shooter, and that was in Michigan. And they were convicted of involuntary manslaughter after the prosecution successfully proved to the jury that there was an unsecured firearm in the home and that they knew that their kids mental health, Ethan Crumley's mental health was also deteriorating and they did nothing to do and they did nothing about it. For example, Ethan Crumbley was drawing pictures of a gun, a bullet and a wounded man on a math assignment. He was also writing very sad and despondent and depressing things. The staff in school personnel at his high school, at Oxford High School did not demand that Ethan go home, but they also were worried because the parents, the Crumbleys, weren't doing anything about his mental health and weren't volunteering to do anything about his mental health. In November of 2021, the 15 year old Ethan Crumbley pulled a handgun from his backpack, began shooting and he killed four students at that school. Ethan, age 17, is currently serving a life sentence for that murder and other crimes. And his parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley, were sentenced to at least 10 years in prison back in 2024. So yes, your recollection is accurate that this is not the first time that a prosecution has happened of parents. This is first time that this case has happened or this type of case has happened in Georgia, as Judge Prim noted. And I have to tell you that the underlying facts in the Colt Gray case are very egregious. I've mentioned some of it so far, but let's Talk about the Colt Gray facts. Just so you also understand why the Colin Gray sentencing at a minimum, at a minimum of 15 years is more than appropriate. So Colt Gray just two days ago was sentenced to life in prison without parole. He's 16 years old and when he committed the homicides in this case, when he killed four in his school, he was 14 years old. Colt Gray at the age of 14 armed himself with the rifle that his father Colin gave him for a Christmas gift. He went to his school, he shot it up and he killed four, two students and two adults. And he wounded others. Colin Gray bought the rifle for his son Colt. Colin Gray gave his son Colt unfettered access to the firearm. And ultimately Colin Gray was convicted. Let's talk about Colt Gray. On September 4th of 2024, 14 year old Colt Gray entered Apalache High School. He had a Sig Sauer, an AR15 rifle, and he killed the following four people. And we always want to remember their names. The kids, Mason Schmermerhorn, Christian Angulo and the teachers, Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irami. They were murdered by 14 year old Colt Gray. Nine others on scene were wounded and Colin Gray. Excuse me. Colt Gray was arrested at the school by school resource officers. Now, under Georgia law, because Colt was only 14 at the time, he could not get the death penalty. However, he could still be prosecuted as an adult. And that is what the Georgia prosecutors did in this case. And they charged him as an adult with 55 felony counts, including multiple counts of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery and a myriad weapons offenses. Now, he was supposed to go to trial this year in October of 2026, but suddenly, just a few weeks ago, Colt Gray announced that he was going to change his plea from not guilty to guilty. And what's interesting is he then did what was a non negotiated process. So normally when you're doing a plea and then sentencing, you would negotiate with the prosecution. In this instance, calling cold Gray did not do that. He said, I'm changing my plea to guilty and I'm going to pretty much appeal to the mercy of the court, to the judge. He didn't have this plea agreement with the prosecution. He had no sentencing concessions that would be mitigators on his sentencing. Again, he pretty much said, I am leaving myself up to the mercy of the judge. Nicholas Prim. I want to play right now what Nicholas Prim had to say at Colt Gray sentencing. Take a listen.
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I recognize that with your guilty plea you've assumed responsibility for your crimes, but planning, fantasizing, about visualizing and exercise and executing. School shooting don't put you in a problematic place, puts you in an unredeemable moral wasteland. Your crimes do reflect permanent incorrigibility and I will send it you to life without parole for each of the malice murders that you committed. The slain will not return to life. The injured will not forget their wounds. And a 16 year old boy will live and die in prison.
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There's more that I haven't played that I think is incredibly important that I read to you. Judge Prim said to Colt Gray your plan was not hastily hatched. It was a slow boil simmering one in a year's time. You savored the thought of it. You visualized it and you fantasized about it. The thought of mimicking these other mass murderers is what brought you joy. The evidence that was admitted so far in the investigation into Cult Gray showed that he had a obsession with other mass shooters, that he actually had a shrine. A shrine to the murderer that did the Parkland shooting here in South Florida. He was obsessed with mass killers. How do we know that? Well, there was also a recorded jailhouse conversation between Colt Gray and his mother. And during that jailhouse phone conversation that was recorded, Colt Gray said he was so happy that he was being compared to those other mass killers. And he loved the attention he was receiving for having staged that massacre at his school. Judge Prim said to Colt Gray at his sentencing, four lives were stolen, two of whom were only just beginning. And it wasn't done out of fear or anger. You weren't being bullied at Appalachia. It wasn't done out of hatred. You didn't even know anybody at that school. It was done for the infamy of it. Now, here's some other things. Like I said, there was this shrine to the Parkland shooter in his room and his parents knew about it, both the mom and the dad. The dad being Colin Gray. The investigators also said that Colt Gray was obsessed with the gunmen that were responsible for the Colorado Columbine High school massacre in 1999, as well as the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre in 2012. Colt Gray had more than 2,000 photos of the Parkland gunman saved on his phone and more photos of that shooter printed and posted on his bedroom wall. He told his mom, Marcy Gray, in one of those jailhouse calls that I referenced, quote, I'm in the big league's bro. His grandmother testified that his dad, Colin Gray, kept dozens of guns in the house, not all of them being locked up. And that Colin had bought the rifle that his son used in order to bond with his son, the grandmother, saying, quote, he, as in Colin, really wanted to find something that they could do together. On 10am the day of the shooting, Colt Gray told his second period teacher that he needed to go to see the crisis counselor. But he never went. He instead went to the bathroom. When he couldn't get back into his classroom, he went down the hall to another classroom, opened fire and killed other people there. He eventually surrendered to law enforcement, school resource officers, prosecutors introducing evidence that Colt Gray methodically planned the school shooting. And investigators found a notebook in which Colt had detailed a step by step plan on how he would get himself ready in the bathroom. His father had also bought him ammunition, a gun sight and other shooting accessories in addition to the AR15 that was used to kill those four innocent people. I also want to read something that was delivered during the victim impact statements that were done at not only Colt Gray sentencing, but also at Colin Gray's sentencing. The wife of teacher Richard Ricky Aspinwall, who was only 39 years old when he was murdered by Colt Gray, said it's a life sentence of grief and trauma for those left behind. She also told the court that their daughters were only 2 and 5 years old when their father was murdered and that their lives will be forever marked by his absence. Brianna Schirmer Horn, whose son Mason, a little boy, was killed, said while the shooter may have been failed by adults in his life, it was his decision to commit mass murder. Those decisions were his and his alone. The father who said in his defense that he was a newly single dad and was trying to parent alone, she said, quote, parenting 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. Those words are very heavy, is an obvious tragedy, but this is the right result. The judge making findings on the record that Colt Gray is beyond rehabilitation. I mean, you heard him say it himself at the beginning of this episode. Colt Gray is not able to be rehabilitated, to be able to be reintroduced into society. He will never be a contributing member to the society. And as the judge, judge says a 16 year old will now go into prison alive and leave prison dead. He murdered four and his father will now do 15 years in a state prison. It is a very interesting, interesting legal theory. It's now been tested. Let's see what happens on appeal. But I wanted to share this with you because we live in a country that is plagued by plagued by mass shootings, plagued by mass casualty events, and people play fast and loose with guns. And we have a government that promotes gun culture and promotes the idea that you don't need to have a license, you don't need to have training, that anybody can have a gun. Nope. Even in places like Georgia, there are consequences. Be mad. Be outreach. Demand accountability. Share this episode and let people know what happens when you don't lock up your guns, when you don't take care of your kids. Because look what happened to the kid and look what happened to the dad. Katie Feng here. We launched the Katie Fang News Channel in partnership with the Midas Touch Network so we could bring you the latest in legal and political news. Straight, no chaser. So if you're a fellow truth teller, hit that subscribe button and share the word about this channel so we can build a high information America together.