// BBC WORLD NEWS — MONDO
Father of teen school shooter sentenced to 15 years in prison
The father of a teenage boy who shot and killed four people at a high school in the US state of Georgia has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for murder, manslaughter and other charges.
Colin Gray, 55, was found guilty in March on a slate of charges stemming from the 2024 attack that left two teachers and two students dead in Winder, Georgia.
His son, 16-year-old Colt Gray, pleaded guilty to the murders last week, and investigators said that the rifle he used was a gift from his father.
Colin Gray was "the one person who could have prevented" the shooting from happening, prosecutors said.
The attack at Apalachee High School outside the city of Atlanta claimed the lives of Christian Angulo, 14, Mason Schermerhorn, 14, Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53.
Colin Gray's prosecution marks the third time a US parent has been held criminally responsible for a mass shooting carried out by their child, according to CBS News, the BBC's US partner.
Judge Nicholas Primm handed down the sentence on Thursday, giving the defendant 15 years for each second degree murder conviction and 10 years for each involuntary manslaughter conviction, all to be served concurrently.
Prosecutors in Georgia had asked for the maximum punishment of 80 years in prison, while the defence asked the judge for a lighter 10-year sentence.
Judge Primm spoke directly to Gray before announcing his sentence, admonishing him for failing to send his son to counselling, as well as failing to monitor his online activity and lock up the guns in the house.
"It is clear you failed as a parent," he said. "The warning lights were flashing brighter and brighter...and you failed to do the simplest things to prevent this."