<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A father in the United States has been convicted of murder and manslaughter charges after </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/georgia-school-shooting-teen-accused-and-father-appear-in-court-stay-in-custody-after-hearings/4b5cf4fd-8e15-4df4-bcc5-a17c3026d308" rel="" target="_blank" title="giving his son a gun for Christmas"><span>giving his son a gun for Christmas</span></a><span> that was then used in a fatal school shooting.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/georgia-school-shooting-teen-accused-and-father-appear-in-court-stay-in-custody-after-hearings/4b5cf4fd-8e15-4df4-bcc5-a17c3026d308" rel="" target="_blank" title="Colin Gray"><span>Colin Gray</span></a><span> was found guilty of second-degree murder in the deaths of two 14-year-old students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, and guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the killings of teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, in the September 2024 shooting at Apalachee High School in Atlanta, Georgia.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Georgia law defines second-degree murder as causing the death of a child by committing the crime of cruelty to children.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>LIVE UPDATES:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/us-israel-attack-iran-live-updates-donald-trump-latest-world-news-headlines/94a5cc0c-0369-44b9-8765-70bb2633e2bd" target="_blank"><strong><span>Iran made chilling nuclear threat, US claims</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Another teacher and eight other students were wounded. Gray was also convicted of multiple counts of reckless conduct and cruelty to children.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/georgia-school-shooting-teenage-gunman-hid-ar15-style-rifle-inbackpack/8469671c-0dd9-415d-bc98-2b97aa820e7f" rel="" target="_blank" title="Gray knew his son was obsessed with school shooters"><span>Gray knew his son was obsessed with school shooters</span></a><span>, even having a shrine in his bedroom to Nikolas Cruz, the shooter in the 2018 massacre at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, prosecutors said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He gave his son the gun as a Christmas gift and allowed him access to it along with ammunition despite the boy's deteriorating mental health. They said he had “sufficient warning that Colt Gray would harm and endanger” other people.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/apalachee-school-shooting-usa-colin-gray-colt-gray-murder-charges/b0f3f634-f3b0-4d19-9dcf-545c66c55464" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Colt Gray, 14 at the time of the shooting, has pleaded not guilty to a total of 55 counts, including murder. A judge has set a status hearing for mid-March.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Investigators said he carefully planned the September 4, 2024, shooting at the school attended by 1900 students.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>EXCLUSIVE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/tweed-council-fined-woman-6000-over-tiny-swap-meet-market/755cb54e-3798-4593-b3c5-8bc06578037c" target="_blank"><strong><span>Peita was slapped with $6000 fine for hosting 'tiny' swap meet</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He boarded the school bus with a semiautomatic, assault-style rifle in his book bag, the barrel sticking out and wrapped in poster board, investigators said. He left his second-period class and emerged from a bathroom with the gun and shot people in a classroom and hallways, investigators said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Jurors took less than two hours to find Gray guilty of all charges in shooting. Gray now joins a growing number of parents being held responsible in court after their children were accused in shootings.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Gray showed little emotion as the verdict was read and each juror was polled by the judge. Deputies then cuffed his hands behind his back as he stood at the defence table, speaking with his lawyer. He will be sentenced at a later date.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Second-degree murder is punishable by at least 10 but no more than 30 years in prison, while involuntary manslaughter carries a penalty of one to 10 years in prison.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Some relatives of victims wept as the verdicts were read.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>LATEST:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/jackie-henderson-leaves-the-kyle-and-jackie-o-show-after-22-years-kyles-future-at-risk/0d1d1dd6-e805-4ca6-b1cf-356dbe6faca2" target="_blank"><strong><span>Kyle fill-in's message for listeners after Jackie O quits rado show</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“We talk a lot about rights in our country,” Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith said after the verdict. “But God gave us a duty to protect our children, and I hope that we remember that, as parents, as community members, to protect our children because that is our God-given duty.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/georgia-school-shooting-mother-suspected-apalachee-high-school-shooter-apologises-open-letters/dbd65f1f-7d8e-4193-a1c6-ecfa7470214a" rel="" target="_blank" title="The teen's mother, Marcee Gray, wasn't charged"><span>The teen's mother, Marcee Gray, wasn't charged</span></a><span>. She testified that she had urged her estranged husband to take any guns and lock them inside his truck so they would not be accessible to their son.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She and Colin Gray were separated in the months leading up to the shooting, and Colt Gray lived mostly with his father during that time. She declined to comment when reached by phone after the verdict.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It wasn't like one parent missed one warning," Smith told reporters.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"This was multiple warnings over a lengthy period of time and, like we said, you just had to do one thing — take that rifle away and this would have been prevented."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><ul><li><em><strong><span>NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.</span></strong></em></li><li><em><strong><span>Download the 9NEWS App here via</span></strong></em><span> </span><a href="https://apps.apple.com/au/app/9news/id1010533727" rel="" target="" title=""><em><strong><span>Apple</span></strong></em></a><span> </span><em><strong><span>and</span></strong></em><span> </span><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nineNewsAlerts.nine.com&amp;hl=en_AU&amp;pli=1" rel="" target="" title=""><em><strong><span>Google Play</span></strong></em></a></li><li><em><strong><span>Make 9News your preferred source on Google by</span></strong></em><span> </span><a href="https://9.nine.com.au/8x987w" rel="" target="" title=""><em><strong><span>ticking this box here</span></strong></em></a></li><li><em><strong><span>Sign up to</span></strong></em><span> </span><a href="https://login.nine.com.au/edm?client_id=nineatnine" rel="" target="" title=""><em><strong><span>our breaking newsletter here</span></strong></em></a></li></ul></div></div>