The mass shooting that claimed the lives of four people at a Georgia high school on Wednesday has created a tragic paradox for parents, a Northeastern University criminologist says. The shooting at Apalachee High School was the deadliest school shooting this year and the ninth mass killing at a K-12 school in the U.S. since 2006, according to James Alan Fox.
Two 14-year-old students and two teachers were killed. Another eight students and one teacher were hospitalized and are expected to survive their injuries. The alleged shooter, identified as Colt Gray, a 14-year-old student at the school, was in police custody and will be charged with murder as an adult. Gray had been questioned last year about online threats to commit a school shooting but there had been no probable cause for arrest, according to FBI Atlanta and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. On Thursday his father, Colin Gray, 54, was arrested and charged with two counts of second-degree murder, four counts of involuntary manslaughter and eight counts of cruelty to children. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said the charges were based in part on Colin Gray allowing his son to possess the military-style rifle that was used in the attack.
