US shooting: gun as a gift, conflictual separation… father of teenager who shot charged

A 14-year-old teenager killed four people in his high school on Wednesday. He was arrested for murder and his father for manslaughter.

On Wednesday, a shooting broke out at Apalachee High School in the town of Winder, Georgia, in the United States. A 14-year-old student at the school, Colt Gray, took the lives of four people, two students and two math teachers. Nine other victims were hospitalized but are said to be out of danger. The alleged shooter had left the classroom at the beginning of class. When he returned, he knocked on the door to get in, but a student held the door shut. The shooter then opened fire in the neighboring classroom.

Colt Gray was arrested and jailed for murder. He is due in court on Friday. He was armed with an AR-15 assault rifle during the attack and, according to CNN, it was allegedly a gift from his father a few months ago. This Thursday, his father was then charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter.”The charge stems from Mr. Gray leaving “knowingly his son Colt owned a gun,” Georgia State Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said at a news conference.

Joe Biden reacted to this new element and questioned the responsibility of parents: “How can you have an assault rifle at home, not locked up and know that your child knows where he is”, the American president asked himself this Thursday. If the father is convicted, it will not be a first. Last April, the parents of a teenager who had killed four students in Michigan were sentenced to ten to fifteen years in prison.

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A difficult family background

According to testimony from a former neighbor to the New York Post, the teenager grew up in a “broken and neglectful” home, monitored by child services. His mother reportedly has a lengthy criminal record, including involvement in drug trafficking. Colt Gray also reportedly suffered a very contentious separation between his parents, with a custody battle ultimately won by his father. According to Gray's maternal grandfather, at CNN, his father would have, for his part, ébeé verbally abusive towards his family. 

Law enforcement is now investigating the motive of the shooter, the teenager and his father not being unknown to the authorities. According to initial investigations, they had already been questioned last year for “multiple anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting at a location and “unidentified one hour,” the Atlanta FBI and the Jackson County Sheriff's Office reported. CNN. The young man had denied making such threats. His father had, for his part, assured that he had hunting weapons, but that his son did not have access to them without supervision . He also added that his child was “being bullied at school”. If he didn't ;#39;there was, à At the time, there was no valid reason to make an arrest, local authorities were warned to keep a close eye on egrave;s the teenager.