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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    3 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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        3 months 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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          3 months 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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            3 months 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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          3 months 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.

    • The Pantser@lemmy.world
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      3 months 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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      3 months 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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      3 months ago

      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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        3 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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        3 months 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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        3 months 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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        3 months 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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      3 months ago

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

      • wildcardology@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        And they were designed and marketed for civilian use. Imagine if it’s legal to purchase military grade assault rifles.

    • Today@lemmy.world
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      3 months 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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        3 months 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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          3 months 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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            3 months 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.

    • The Pantser@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      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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        3 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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      3 months ago

      Why these people giving weapons to their kids after the sheriff first contacted you to investigate school shooting threats your kid made online,

    • Chozo@fedia.io
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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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        3 months ago

        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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      3 months ago

      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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    3 months ago

    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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      3 months ago

      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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        3 months ago

        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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            3 months ago

            Makes for great video though. All those batteries lined up, and firing their shots.

            • kandoh@reddthat.com
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              3 months ago

              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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          3 months ago

          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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        3 months ago

        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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      3 months ago

      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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        3 months ago

        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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    3 months 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.

  • ElcaineVolta@kbin.melroy.org
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    3 months 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?

  • selokichtli@lemmy.ml
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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.

  • BigMacHole@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    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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    3 months 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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      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.