The 14-year-old arrested for killing four people on Wednesday at a Winder, Georgia high school, appeared before a judge for the first time on Friday, who formalized the charges against him and reminded him that he will be tried as an adult, although he cannot be sentenced to death under any circumstances.
Colt Gray killed two students and two teachers and injured nine other people. Only one of the four murder charges is enough to sentence him to life imprisonment, Judge Currie Mingledorff explained during the hearing on Friday, in which the accused did not plead innocent or guilty.
Gray, who had previously issued online threats of possible shootings at schools and had a semi-automatic weapon, will avoid the death penalty in any case because he was a minor at the time of the crime, despite the fact that Georgia law does allow him to be treated as an adult throughout the trial, CNN reports.
The father of the alleged shooter, Colin Gray, also appeared before the judge on Friday. He was arrested on Thursday on four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight other counts of cruelty to children. Authorities assume that he “knowingly” consented to his son having a weapon.
The charges against the father, 54, add up to a total of 180 years of sentence, so if found guilty, he also faces life behind bars, just like his son.
