The entrance sign of Apalachee High School was adorned with flowers from visitors on 5 September 2024, in Winder, Georgia. (Jessica McGowan/Getty Images/AFP)
- A 14-year-old boy was charged with four counts of felony
murder for allegedly killing two students and two teachers at Apalachee High
School in Georgia. - His father was also charged with manslaughter and other
related charges for allowing his son to possess a weapon. - The gun used in the shooting was reportedly an AR
15-style assault rifle, purchased by the father as a holiday gift for the
teenager.
A 14-year-old boy was charged with shooting four people dead
at a US high school, while his father was charged with manslaughter,
authorities said Thursday, after the country’s latest outburst of gun violence.
The teen faces four felony murder counts after allegedly
killing two fellow pupils, also aged 14, as well as two teachers at Apalachee
High School in the southern state of Georgia on Wednesday.
Nine people – most of them children – were wounded in the
attack. Authorities have said they are recovering.
The suspect’s father, 54-year-old Colin Gray, was in custody
and faces four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree
murder, and eight counts of cruelty to children, making him the latest American
parent to face criminal charges after a child was involved in a mass shooting.
The charges come after Gray “knowingly” allowed
his son to possess a weapon, Georgia Bureau of Investigation director Chris
Hosey told a press conference.
READ | 14-year-old US high school student kills 4 and wounds 9 in Georgia campus shooting
Citing unnamed sources, CNN reported that the gun used in
the shooting – which it described as an AR 15-style assault rifle – had been
purchased for the teenager by his father as a holiday gift.
The GBI had said the suspect would be charged as an adult.
He was scheduled to appear in court on Friday, with more charges expected.
“The investigation into the shooting at Apalachee HS is
still active & ongoing,” the agency said in a post on X, formerly
Twitter.
“This is day 2 of a very complex investigation &
the integrity of the case is paramount,” it continued, adding that all
four victims would be autopsied on Thursday.
School shootings are a shockingly regular occurrence in the
United States, where guns outnumber people and regulations on purchasing even
powerful military-style rifles are lax.
Parental responsibility in mass shootings, particularly
those carried out by minors, has come increasingly under the spotlight in
recent months.
“How could you have an assault rifle, a weapon in a
house, not locked up and knowing your kid knows where it is?” lamented
President Joe Biden, speaking to reporters in Wisconsin on Thursday.
“You’ve got to hold parents accountable if they let
their child have access to these guns.”
In April, the parents of a teenager who killed four people
in a school shooting in Michigan were sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison, in
an unprecedented and closely watched case.
Jennifer and James Crumbley were the first parents of a
school shooter convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the United States for
the actions of their child.
Polls show a majority of voters favour stricter controls on
the use and purchase of firearms, but a powerful gun ownership lobby is opposed
to additional restrictions, and lawmakers have repeatedly failed to act.
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