The father of the mass shooting suspect accused of killing four people at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, told investigators this week he had purchased the gun used in the killings as a holiday present for his son in December 2023, according to two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation.

Colt Gray, a 14-year-old student, is accused of killing two students and two teachers with an AR-style rifle in the Wednesday shooting. Nine more people were hospitalized.

One source told CNN the AR-15-style rifle was purchased at a local gun store as a Christmas present.

  • TipRing@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    So his son was being investigated for making threats to shoot up the school and he decided that the best gift was a gun that could allow his son to act on those threats.

    Charging him in connection with the shooting seems appropriate.

      • Maeve@kbin.earth
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        I bet physical and/or verbal abuse was abundant in that household, probably spousal abuse as well, up to and including sexual and financial.

        • jordanlund@lemmy.world
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          No sexual abuse reported, but everything else, yeah.

          More red flags than a May Day Parade, like usual.

          • Maeve@kbin.earth
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            People don’t agree with what I’m going to say, but nonconsensual *nonmonogamous sexual relationships are physically and emotionally abusive. Physically because they potentially expose the non-consenting to disease, and death by disease. Emotionally and actually financially, because of gaslighting, withholding, gaslighting. And even with laws on the books, all abuse is underreported, and then when it is, there’s the victim blaming mentality, from report to trial, if it makes it that far. *Autocorrect

        • saltesc@lemmy.world
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          You must have a very exciting betting wallet. I usually just got for one thing rather than spray hedge bets.on all the things I can basrlessly assume. Also, you didn’t cover race or politics in there.

    • The Pantser@lemmy.world
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      Yup they can go the same route as the Oxford, MI shooter and charge the parents. They got 10 years, if more parents got charged parents might wise up. This sounds 100% the exact same situation. Oxford kids parents told him not to get caught next time when he was in trouble for looking at ammunition during school.

    • Pacmanlives@lemmy.world
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      Yeah, this is where I have issue. I grew up around guns and hunting. When I passed my safe hunters I got my first 12 gage shotgun and then got a 410 later that year along with a 50 cal black powder rifle and the. Get a few AR’s and AK/SKS’s along the way. I grew up respecting them and it was a normal part of life. People had gun racks in their trucks with guns in them in high school at the time.

      But this kid obviously had issues and they should have been in a safe away from him. I do think holding parents liable with start changing things slowly. I wish it was an over night change but we need to do it more often

    • Ricky Rigatoni@lemm.ee
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      I absolutely don’t see an accessory charge at minimum as being too far of a stretch either. Lock both of them up.

      • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        imagine how much worse this would be if the child in question went to drag time story hour instead of being given a killing machine! /s

      • HostilePasta@lemmy.ml
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        Drag queen story times are of the devil! ( The Christians say while attending church where someone dresses up and reads stories).

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        I was gonna write a witty but bleak reply to this but I’m not gonna. Have a nice day

      • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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        Did he think the kid was going to carry it around the school all day every day? Did he know that school shootings tend to happen … in schools?

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      Call me crazy, but I don’t think civilians should own AR-15s

    • Today@lemmy.world
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      I grew up in a rural area with just my mom. We had two handguns and a shotgun hidden in the house. Anytime we went walking in the pasture a gun came with us in case of snakes or wild dogs and a couple of times per year i was required to shoot at cans with each one. I wasn’t interested in them and didn’t like shooting them, but understood her desire for me to feel comfortable using them ‘just in case’. We often took long road trips to visit family and would stop to nap in rest areas for a few hours. The small handgun was always beside the driver’s seat. It was the 70s and early 80s and nothing was locked. 22 in the nightstand drawer, 38 in a dresser drawer, and shotgun behind her bedroom door - all loaded and ready. It didn’t seem weird; it was just what my mom did to try to keep us safe.

      • /home/pineapplelover@lemm.ee
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        Not everybody is fortunate to have responsibility and be mentally sane. Even the father in this case probably told the kid the to dos and not to dos of owning a gun (or not. Idk man). But you know, all this happened.

        • Today@lemmy.world
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          Yeah. I don’t really know why i shared all of that. Just struggling to make sense of something senseless, i guess. i visit several schools per day and we all whine about the inconvenience of badge fobs, locked classrooms, being required to put the alert app on our phones and then having it constantly going off all day with every drill at every school, etc. Then when something like this happens i feel shitty for whining, heartbroken for those families, and thankful that it wasn’t my schools, teachers, kids, … It sucks. And the worst part is that we know it will happen again and again. Rambling…sorry.

          • /home/pineapplelover@lemm.ee
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            Yeah all good man. I definitely appreciated your story. I also think that responsible citizens should be able to carry. We shouldn’t be handing guns to untrained maniacs out here. Ideally, your family would be a shining example of how to be responsible gun owners.

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      I could see if you’re really into guns and you want to teach your kid the importance of gun safety, etc. But that firearm should 110% be under lock and key so that the child has no way to access it outside of parental supervision. This sounds like gross negligence, and a disturbing trend of parents for whatever reason buying troubled youth firearms in what I think most would consider counter to good judgement.

      Edit - Ugh… It’s even worse after reading this part…

      The timeline the teen’s father provided to authorities would put the gun purchase months after authorities first contacted Gray and his family to investigate school shooting threats made online.

      • ModernEraCaveman@lemmy.world
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        If your kid is really into guns, then buy them a bb gun for fucks sake. Teach them gun safety with something that won’t kill anyone. What kind of brain dead parents are out there thinking that buying a child a gun is a good idea? THE KID’S NOT EVEN OLD ENOUGH TO DRIVE FFS

        • ChillPenguin@lemmy.world
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          You know… This whole gun thing. You’re on to something. Some people are absolutely brain dead and have no critical thinking skills. That’s what scares me about guns. Even with the argument that guns are just tools. Have you looked around America and seen the types of people that exist? Now imagine them all owning guns.

          Fucking scary.

    • The Pantser@lemmy.world
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      Should be illegal to buy a child a gun until they are 18. You can 2A all you want about defending the country but you fuckers ain’t gonna tell me you will have a child in your militia. Can’t drive until 16, can’t smoke until 18, can’t drink until 21 but you can go out and fire deadly weapons whenever your parents say it’s cool.

      • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        21 now to smoke.

        And hopefully they keep charging the parents. Got kids? Got firearms? They better be locked in a safe and only the parent should know the code…some people are dumb as fuck.

    • jballs@sh.itjust.works
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      Why these people giving weapons to their kids after the sheriff first contacted you to investigate school shooting threats your kid made online,

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      I think part of the reason for this is that you have a lot of these dipshit parents who see headlines like this and think “the LiBeRaLs are going to use this week’s school shooting as justification for taking our guns; I’ll show them, I’ll give my children guns and be the proof that guns aren’t the problem”. At least, with how often I see the sentiment of “well my kids have guns and haven’t killed anybody” across social media, that’s my assumption.

      They all think they’re responsible gun owners. And maybe some of them are. Hell, maybe most of them are. But a non-zero amount aren’t, and we need to have safeguards in place instead of “nothing we can do but pray for stronger doors on the schools”.

      • HostilePasta@lemmy.ml
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        Except responsible gun owners wouldn’t buy their child a gun and give them access to it whenever they please. Any firearms I may or may not possess would be locked in a safe which no one but any spouse I may hypothetically have had access to. Unfortunately I lost all my firearms in a tragic boating accident a few years back.

        What I’m trying to say is that, while the government shouldn’t be allowed to come check that people have their guns locked up when not in use, there should absolutely be repercussions for anyone found to not be doing so.

    • Empricorn@feddit.nl
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      People like this put the “toxic” in toxic masculinity. “Oh, my son is having a hard time maturing and posted school shooting threats online? He just needs to grow up, firearms will help with that!”

      Can we please get gun reform yet!? This doesn’t happen in other countries…

  • 2pt_perversion@lemmy.world
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    My dad gave me a gun for one of my earlier birthdays. It was a bolt action .22 that went right into a gun safe that I couldn’t access…It was a pretty shitty present as I didn’t enjoy hunting at the time but in retrospect I’m glad I learned gun safety and shooting.

    Why the fuck would you buy a 14 year old an AR15 style rifle, especially after he already had a history of making school shooting threats at school? Dude deserves prison for a long time.

    • kandoh@reddthat.com
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      Respecting a gun as a deadly weapon makes you a pussy. Your gun is like your dick, only better because you can buy a really big one instead of being stuck with what nature gave you.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        One thing I learned in the Army was someone always has a bigger gun. So it’s what you do with the one you have that matters. After all, men have captured entire trenches with nothing but a pistol; while the guys with the big guns spent weeks pounding away to no satisfaction.

        (I see the door but I’m not leaving until I finish this beer. Any attempts to force me will result in more punishment)

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            Makes for great video though. All those batteries lined up, and firing their shots.

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              I agree, love when they put some fresh batteries in and you can really feel the vibrations

  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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    After they had been contacted by investigators over concerns the kid wanted to do a school shooting.

    This is why red flag laws need to be a thing.

    The buried lede-

    The timeline the teen’s father provided to authorities would put the gun purchase months after authorities first contacted Gray and his family to investigate school shooting threats made online.

        • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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          2 counts of murder 2

          4 counts of involuntary manslaughter

          8 counts of cruelty to children

          I wonder how they settled on 2 counts of murder. Maybe that implies they think 2 victims were targetted and 2 were in the wrong place at the wrong time?

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        Oh absolutely. Throw that fucker in jail. He’s more responsible than the kid.

        • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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          Yeah, I’m wondering how many people failed that kid for him to end up in a place where he decided to throw away his life to lash out in a way that couldn’t be ignored or swept under a rug.

          Ultimately, this is probably the root of the problem more than the access to guns are because a kid that wants to shoot up his school but can’t get a gun to do so is still a tragedy and could still turn deadly.

          Edit: not that guns aren’t too easy to access in the US

    • Johnmannesca@lemmy.world
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      Never buy your adolescents guns parents, as a matter of fact, don’t let them have guns where you can’t see them

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        There are places where training your kids in an age appropriate manner is the right thing to do. But of course it’s the parent’s responsibility to do that correctly, supervise use, and remove any firearms if there are problems.

  • Manifish_Destiny@lemmy.world
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    I was gifted a shotgun at 15. It was a double barrel break action shotgun from my grandmother.

    I kept it in a gun rack my grandfather left me hanging on my wall. I never had issues, but if one of my friends wanted access, it probably could have been stolen.

    Lock up your guns.

  • ElcaineVolta@kbin.melroy.org
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    it’s odd that they used “holiday present” in the headline, but the article says-

    One source told CNN the AR-15-style rifle was purchased at a local gun store as a Christmas present.

    it’s like they didn’t want christmas in the same headline as the mass shooting or something?

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    Americans need to analyze their views surrounding guns. And take their time. It’s mind-blowing to try to make them understand guns are risky, regardless of handling, trigger discipline, or any other bullshit they tell themselves. The mere existence of guns is dangerous, the bigger the number of guns out there is the amount of accidents, shootings and massacres waiting to happen out there.

    Edit: yeah, pushed some buttons here. Good.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      Who have you been talking to? 80 percent of Americans want gun control laws like a universal background check. For a general question of more strict laws support is at 60 percent.

      Here’s a former Supreme Court judge saying the conservatives have hijacked the second amendment and we in response we should repeal it.

      Washington Post reports that around that same period 21 percent of Americans were ready to repeal it.

      We’re out here, and we’re pissed. We just get angrier every time time we see a headline and every time it turns out that common sense gun laws were subverted by people in authority.

      • InternetUser2012@lemmy.today
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        People in authority thanks to gerrymandering. The republikkklan party is a fucking joke. If you support them, you’re a fucking clown and you’re responsible for this kind of shit. I have been hoping for years they’d see the light and realize they’re getting played, but here we are.

        VOTE!! If you can, volunteer to give rides to those that couldn’t vote without it.

        • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          VOTE!! If you can, volunteer to give rides to those that couldn’t vote without it.

          make sure to pretend you’re doing voter fraud on the internet to piss off conservatives so you can gotcha them

      • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        Here’s a former Supreme Court judge saying the conservatives have hijacked the second amendment and we in response we should repeal it.

        based. The ruling of the second is unconstitutional anyway.

        For all the talk over roe v wade being “unconstitutional and the wong way to do it” the conservatives sure seem to like the second amendment.

    • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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      It’s funny (in a sad way) how people who frequent shooting ranges - which usually have very strict rules regarding firearm discipline and handling safety - are fine with allowing every schmuck in the world to walk around packing. If that shit is so important on a gun range, why would it be unimportant out in the world?

    • spyd3r@sh.itjust.works
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      Let me analyze this for a minute… Nope not giving up my rights because criminals can’t control themselves from committing crimes.

    • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      the mere existence of literally anything is dangerous. Guns are just uniquely primed to kill humans.

      Knives scare me more than guns, just based of the pure frequency of how often people use them.

    • beefbot@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      Comment deleted when I realised I was responding to lemmy.ml user.

      The comment about being a cruel turd, that one’s still accurate so it stands 💅

    • beefbot@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      Sorry remind me when if ever you’ve walked through a shopping center and needed to know where your safest exits were? Where you’d hide with the thickest cover? Thought about which stairwell might be safest?

      Not just a shopping center. How about your workplace. Or church. Or which corner of your house you’d survive longest in.

      Thought about all those things, have you? Wow congrats, aren’t you so ahead of the game.

      Talking as if all my friends and family haven’t ever once given a thought to guns. What a lazy, facile, mindlessly cruel claim to make.

      What a bad person with an ugly heart you are to make it.

      Fuck you.

  • BigMacHole@lemm.ee
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    If you can Ban someone from buying their CHILD a GUN after that Child makes THREATS TO SHOOT UP HIS SCHOOL that’s SOCIALISM! SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED!

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    AR-15-style

    Sociopaths raising a sociopath. We have to stop the race to the bottom, triggering people isn’t cool, it has serious repercussions, as noted in presidential races, even.

    • Kbobabob@lemmy.world
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      Anyone got a list of AR-15 style guns? I have no idea why they can’t just say what it is and leave all the AR-15 shit out. I mean I know why they do it, it just sucks.

    • alucard@sopuli.xyz
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      We don’t all think the same on this issue. I for one thing that we’re well past addressing this.

  • Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    My father also bought me a gun as a birthday present as a teenager, and looking back it was wholly inappropriate and dangerous. Granted, I never had thoughts of killing people.

    • Cadeillac@lemmy.world
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      Were you always in possession of it, or did he keep it properly stored until he took you shooting?

      • Waraugh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        I had a shotgun and .223 in the back window gun rack of my truck through middle school and high school (started driving at 14 with a school permit) with shells and rounds in the glove box. Nothing was ever locked where I grew up either; homes, vehicles, businesses.

        Granted I grew up in a town with under 1,000 people and the closest ‘city’ to us was an hour away and had a population of 25k.

        That was forty years ago and I feel a lot differently about things and the world is a different place but when I grew up more students and teachers had guns in their vehicles at school than didn’t. Everyone hunted, I pulled off and shot a coyote in pack that was stalking around one of my teachers herd of cows on the way to school one winter. I took the coyote into class and gave it to him since I had him first period.

        • Cadeillac@lemmy.world
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          I totally get it. My dad is from a town like that, if not smaller. Place I’m from isn’t a lot bigger, but it definitely wasn’t like his. They probably still carry hunting rifles to school. They get like a week off for deer hunting season because they wouldn’t show anyways

          • Waraugh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            That just gave me some deep seated nostalgia, I forgot how much I enjoyed that week off of school we’d get. I feel so out of place trying to get my sons raised up sometimes. My entire grade size was never over 37 and that was with five combined towns going to the same school. We live in a town of fifty thousand people in a different state and everything feels so big to me even though I’ve lived here nearly twenty years. Anytime I’ve stayed in a real city for more than a night or two my anxiety goes into overdrive, I don’t know how people do it.

        • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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          And people wonder why criminals in the US have so ready access to firearms. In some areas, just steal a truck, and get a shitload of material to commit crimes for free!

    • HostilePasta@lemmy.ml
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      I was also gifted firearms as a child. They were kept inside a locked safe that I didn’t have the combination for when not being used for hunting or target shooting. As much as I enjoy guns, hunting, and shooting, I can also see that responsibility goes beyond “it’s guaranteed in the constitution” or equivalent bullshit.

    • oyo@lemm.ee
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      A teenager’s brain chemistry is rapidly changing due to hormones, etc. I remember a couple days when I was about 14 where I became massively depressed for no apparent reason, just likely a temporary chemical imbalance in my brain. If I had a gun, who knows what I would have done.