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.

  • Wynnstan@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    Perhaps the father only intended his son to use his AR-15 to kill animals for fun, which is totally acceptable behaviour for any budding young psycopath.

  • MobileDecay@lemmy.world
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    10 days ago

    And there was another shooting today with 1 dead. 2 shootings in one week. More thoughts and prayers of course. 🙄

  • TipRing@lemmy.world
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    11 days 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.

    • The Pantser@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      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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      11 days ago

      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

    • rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee
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      11 days ago

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

      • Maeve@kbin.earth
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        11 days ago

        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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          11 days ago

          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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            11 days ago

            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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          10 days ago

          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.

  • Manifish_Destiny@lemmy.world
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    11 days ago

    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.

    • Today@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      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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        11 days ago

        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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          11 days ago

          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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            11 days ago

            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.

      • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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        11 days 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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        11 days ago

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

      • quafeinum@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        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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        11 days ago

        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?

    • aname@lemmy.one
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      11 days ago

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

    • alucard@sopuli.xyz
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      9 days ago

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

  • PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works
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    11 days ago

    Sorry, but question that’s unrelated to the story specifics:

    The classroom doors lock automatically, and near the end of class, the suspect knocked on the door to try to come back in, Lyela said.

    Another student went to open the door but apparently saw the gun and refused to let him in, Lyela said.

    Instead, the shooter turned to a nearby classroom and opened fire, “and you hear about 10 to 15 rounds back-to-back,” Lyela said.

    “I heard gunshots outside my classroom and people screaming, people begging not to get shot,” said 14-year-old student Macey Right.

    Did the other rooms not lock, or was he let in because the person who opened the door in the other classroom not notice the gun?

  • Maeve@kbin.earth
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    11 days ago

    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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      11 days ago

      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.

  • ElcaineVolta@kbin.melroy.org
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    11 days ago

    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?

  • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
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    11 days ago

    I don’t understand why the father would just confess like that, but I suppose I shouldn’t expect good judgement from him.

    • girlfreddy@lemmy.ca
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      11 days ago

      I’m sure he believes in the rule of law, so told the truth. I’m also sure he believes that nothing will happen to him because he told the nice police officers the truth, so the nice police officers will just charge his way-too-young-to-own-a-gun son as an adult and Dad will just go on living his life as he always has.

      Critical thinking skills are not strong in men like him.

    • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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      11 days ago

      The kid was taken alive, so it’s likely he’ll just tell them at some point.