A 14-year-old boy has been charged with the fatal shooting of four people at Apalachee High School in Georgia, marking another tragic episode of gun violence in the U.S. The victims, two students aged 14 and two teachers, were shot on Wednesday. Nine others, most of them children, were injured but are reportedly recovering.
The teen faces four counts of felony murder. Authorities revealed that his father, 54-year-old Colin Gray, is also being charged with involuntary manslaughter, second-degree murder, and child cruelty. According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), Gray “knowingly” allowed his son to have access to a weapon, allegedly purchased as a holiday gift.
“The investigation into the shooting at Apalachee HS is still active & ongoing,” the GBI stated on X (formerly Twitter), emphasizing the complexity of the case. The suspect is expected to be tried as an adult, with additional charges likely to follow.
School shootings have become disturbingly frequent in the U.S., where firearm regulations remain lax despite ongoing debates. President Joe Biden, responding to the latest tragedy, said, “You’ve got to hold parents accountable if they let their child have access to these guns.”
This incident echoes a similar case in Michigan, where the parents of a teenage shooter were sentenced for their role in enabling the crime.