Colin Gray, father of Georgia high school shooting suspect charged with murder, manslaughter, child cruelty

The father of the 14-year-old accused of shooting and killing two teachers and two students was arrested in connection to the deadly Georgia school shooting that rocked the small community.

Colin Gray, the father of the 14-year-old suspect, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in connection, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) announced Thursday.

In addition to two counts of second-degree murder, 54-year-old Gray was also charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter and eight counts of cruelty to children, according to the GBI.

He was arrested on Wednesday, the GBI announced during a press conference on Thursday evening.

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The Director of the GBI, Chris Hosey, said that this was a "difficult" time for the community.

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"This is a very difficult time, as we know, for students and parents and so many students and parents here in this county and around this state are afraid," he said. "You all have likely seen reports of incidents of other students making threats today at various schools around our state. In each of these incidents, police law enforcement took charges, and they made arrests, acted very swiftly as we take incidents like this very seriously across this state."

Hosey encouraged the community to "come together and remain vigilant" in the wake of the deadly mass shooting.

"This is a time for all of us as a community and a state, to come together and remain vigilant," he said. "Students must be supported and encouraged here in this community and across the state to contact a member of their school faculty with any and all concerns of suspicious activity that they may see." 

"Local, state and federal law enforcement will continue to work together around the clock in relation to this incident here and any other incidents that come up around this state that raise concern for the safety of our students, faculty and citizens here in the State of Georgia."

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith announced that of the nine injured, which included 2 teachers and 7 students, all would make a full recovery. 

Smith implored the audience to "lift up our community."

"Please keep these children, these teachers," he said. "We call them teachers, but I call them heroes."