‘Adults around him failed him’: The eerily similar cases of convicted Michigan school gunman and accused Georgia shooter
Both teens were gifted guns and had exhibited warning signs of mental illness before allegedly opening fire at their high schools — a combination that has caused prosecutors to pursue parents’ criminal accountability after their child’s mass shooting
The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
When Jennifer and James Crumbley, the parents of a Michigan school shooter, were found guilty earlier this year of manslaughter, the prosecutor sent a powerful message to parents across the country: secure your firearms or you may be held responsible if your child uses them.
But it’s not one that Colin Gray, father of the Georgia high school suspected shooter, apparently received.
On the surface, the two shootings are so many aspects in common that a Michigan prosecutor called them “eerily similar”. Both involved teens who were gifted guns by their parents, despite having had a reported history of mental illness. Both school shootings tragically ended with four people killed. And both involve parents accused of being partially responsible.
Colt Gray is the 14-year-old suspected of opening fire at Apalachee High School, his school in Winder, Georgia earlier this month. He is now accused of killing two teachers and two students — Mason Schermerhorn, 14, Christian Angulo, 14, Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53. His father is accused of supplying him with the alleged murder weapon.
Earlier this spring, Jennifer and James Crumbley were each found guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter, marking the first time in US history that parents were convicted for their role in a mass school shooting perpetrated by their child. They have each been sentenced to 10-15 years in prison.
Prosecutors accused the Michigan parents of gifting a gun to their son Ethan despite warning signs he was not mentally stable. Not only had their son allegedly complained about hearing “voices,” but school officials had also contacted the parents after finding their child searching online for ammunition. Still, the parents took their 15-year-old to a shooting range.
Four days after receiving the firearm, the high school sophomore opened fire at Oxford High School in November 2021, killing four: Madisyn Baldwin, 17, Hana St Juliana, 14, Tate Myre, 16, and Justin Shilling, 17.
The teenager was sentenced to life in prison in December 2023 — the same month that Colin Gray gave an AR-15-style gun to his son as a Christmas present.
The present came mere months after Jackson County Sheriff’s Office deputies showed up at the Grays’ doorstep to look into an FBI tip that the teenager had allegedly threatened to shoot up a school on the social media platform Discord. During the interview with the deputies, the then-13-year-old denied knowing anything about the alleged threat while his father admitted that he had firearms in his house — and that they were accessible to his son. Police closed the investigation after not finding evidence to substantiate that either of the Grays were behind the Discord account.
After the deadly rampage more than a year later on September 5, the elder Gray was charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder, and eight counts of cruelty to children.
When Karen McDonald, the Oakland County, Michigan prosecutor who brought the unprecedented charges against the Crumbleys, heard reports that the suspected Georgia shooter was given a firearm by his father, she told Newsweek: “It felt like I was being punched in the stomach.”
McDonald added that parts of the cases were “eerily similar,” namely the mental health component of both teens.
The Michigan shooter had texted his friend, months before committing the deadly shooting, that he had asked his parents for help getting his mental health in check after hearing “voices,” but his parents had dismissed him. He texted: “I actually asked my dad to take [me] to the doctor yesterday but he just gave me some pills and told me to ‘suck it up.’”
Similarly, the suspected Georgia shooter’s aunt told the Washington Post that he had pleaded for months for mental health support. A week before the shooting, according to the Post, his grandmother had met with a school counselor, and texted his aunt after: “[he] starts with the therapist tomorrow.”
Days later, the aunt expressed concern about her nephew’s mental health in combination with his close proximity to guns in the home. She fired off a text: “He has been having homicidal and suicidal thoughts, he shouldn’t have a gun, and he should’ve been in THERAPY months ago.” The “adults around him failed him,” she told the outlet.
As well as the high school students’ apparent mental health struggles, both have also been described as being fixated on violence.
The Michigan shooter drew violent illustrations, wrote disturbing journal entries detailing his plans, and made a video the night before the rampage eerily declaring that he is “going to be the next school shooter.” Even after he pleaded guilty, he couldn’t restrain himself from searching online for torture, murder, and other violent content.
At his sentencing, the judge said: “He has an obsession with violence. This act involved extensive planning and research and he executed every last thing that he planned.”
When authorities searched the Georgia suspected shooter’s home, they discovered he had an “interest” in mass shootings — and that he was “particularly obsessed” with the 2018 Parkland school shooter, the New York Times reported. A year earlier, a Discord account came to the attention of the police after writings that threatened a school shooting and mentioned the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooter. The then-13-year-old denied the account belonged to him.
This obsession with violence is especially worrisome when paired with access to firearms, the leading cause of death for children and teens.
Federal law stipulates that Americans only have to be 18 to purchase shotguns and rifles. However, a Washington Post analysis found that the median age of school shooters is just 16 years old. Perhaps this dichotomy is explained by the fact that 76 per cent of youth school shooters get their firearms from the home, according to Brady United Against Gun Violence.
The gun safety group found that 4.6 million US children live in homes with unlocked and loaded firearms.
Advocates have touted safe storage laws as one method to prevent firearms from getting into the hands of kids — a responsibility that lies with the gun owners.
“If people simply locked up their firearms, we would not be putting parents behind bars for this reason. And we would not be digging as many graves,” Kris Brown, president of Brady, said in a statement.
“The fact that Mr Gray bought his son a weapon of war as a present – months after being investigated for making threats to shoot up a school – is a complete and utter dereliction of responsibility, both as a gun owner and a community member,” Nick Suplina, Everytown for Gun Safety’s senior vice president for law and policy, said in a statement.
Beyond the Crumbleys, there has been a trend of trying to hold the parents of mass shooters to account. But this strategy hasn’t always been successful.
In Texas, relatives of the eight students and two teachers killed in the 2018 Santa Fe High School shooting sued the 17-year-old suspect’s parents in a civil suit.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers argued that his parents made firearms too accessible in their home — by putting them in a display case in their living room — and ignored their son’s deteriorating mental health. After a three-week trial, a jury found that the parents were not liable.
McDonald, who successfully prosecuted her case against the Crumbleys, told Newsweek that she is still in touch with the families of those killed and injured at Oxford High School. The Georgia shooting was difficult for them to see, she said: “Watching this play out and the trauma brings up feelings again and again and again for people who went through that and will never be completely healed from it.”
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.