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A Georgia jury Tuesday took the rare action of holding a father criminally responsible for actions blamed on his son, who is alleged to have gunned down two schoolmates and two teachers while he was armed with an AR-15-style rifle kept in their home.

The panel in Barrow County found Colin Gray, 55, guilty of all charges, which included second-degree murder and cruelty to children, in connection with the Sept. 4, 2024, mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder. His son, Colt Gray, is charged with the shooting itself.

Prosecuting parents for their children’s committing school shootings does have at least one precedent.

James Crumbley and his wife, Jennifer Crumbley, were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the 2021 deadly shooting at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit by their son Ethan Crumbley.

Colt Gray's mother cited the Crumbley case when she urged that her son's access to guns should be cut off before the 2024 mass shooting, Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith said.

"We hope that [this conviction] moves the needle a little further," Smith told reporters.

"I think you saw in this case that the mother actually reviewed what happened in Michigan ... and she then, as a result of that, asked her husband to remove the weapons," Smith said.

"It could have ended this tragedy. So Michigan was able to move the needle to the point that almost stopped this tragedy," he said. "How many tragedies it did stop? We hope we move the needle a little further."

The jury deliberated for less than two hours before it found Gray guilty on all 27 charges. He didn't appear to show outward emotions as the jury delivered its verdicts.

After the jury was polled to confirm all of the guilty verdicts, Gray, wearing a blue sport coat and khaki pants, was handcuffed and taken away by court security.

Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm didn't immediately set a date for sentencing, saying, "There are a lot of people that need to be notified and have a right to appear." Gray faces up to 243 years behind bars.

Defense attorneys declined to answer reporters’ questions as they left the courthouse.

Colt Gray is accused of using the firearm his father should have secured to carry out the slaughter about 45 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta.

The younger Gray, who was 14 at the time of the shooting, remains in custody, and a trial date has not yet been set.

Prosecutors accused Colin Gray of ignoring warning signs of his son's potential violence and allowing him access to the high-capacity weapon used at Apalachee High School.

Jurors were shown pictures of Colt's bedroom, which included pictures of school shooter Nikolas Cruz on the wall. Cruz killed 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14, 2018.

The four slain in Georgia were Mason Schermerhorn, 14; Christian Angulo, 14; Richard Aspinwall, 39; and Cristina Irimie, 53.

Colin Gray, testifying on his own behalf, recounted incidents of his son’s feeling bullied at school and occasionally showing signs of rage.

Still, he told jurors he never considered his son to be a violent threat.

“I never thought that he would even have a thought process of bringing a gun to school or doing any kind of harm to anybody else. Well, on anybody at school,” the older Gray told jurors.

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A man who targeted nonverbal autistic children to produce child porn has been sentenced in federal court.

Federal officials announced that William S. Welsh, 30, of State College was sentenced last week to 30 years in prison by Chief U.S. District Judge Matthew W. Brann for production of child pornography.

Throughout 2023, Welsh held himself out as a “babysitter” in order to gain access to several nonverbal and/or autistic toddlers, according to U.S. Attorney Brian D. Miller. He later admitted to a friend that he possessed child pornography and that he had sexually exploited at least one of the toddlers he babysat.

Following an investigation by law enforcement, a series of search warrants executed on Welsh’s cell phones and computer revealed at least 40 videos of child pornography, including violent rape videos of children under the age of five. The search further revealed 11 sexually explicit photographs of a toddler, taken by Welsh when he was babysitting the toddler in January 2023.

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A case was transferred from Snyder to Northumberland County for a former Northumberland County Children and Youth Services employee accused of trying to throw off a child abuse investigation involving her son and infant grandson.

Judge Lori Hackenberg ruled last week that Snyder County was not the proper venue for the case for Keira Marie Ruiz Ruiz, 43, of Sunbury, Snyder County District Attorney Heath W. Brosius confirmed.

Charges for Ruiz originally were filed in August in Snyder County shortly after her son, 24-year-old Jeremy Erb of Sunbury, was charged for abusing his 5-month-old infant at a home in Center Township, Snyder County.

Erb pleaded guilty in January in Snyder County Court to felony aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children charges.

Police say while they were investigating Erb's case, Ruiz used her position as a CYS worker to try to influence the outcome. A child abuse investigation started on April 28 when Ruiz's infant grandson was taken to Geisinger Medical Center's emergency department for treatment of injuries caused by Erb.

Erb told police he had been playing video games for 15 minutes when the infant began crying. Erb picked the infant up and squeezed him until he heard a popping sound in his chest cavity.

Staff at Geisinger found that the infant had several broken ribs on each side of his body that were in various stages of healing. Trooper William Shreve of PSP Selinsgrove said staff determined the fractures occurred at different times.

Erb allegedly admitted to police he had squeezed the victim until he heard popping sounds on two other occasions, once while the victim fussed during a feeding and another time when he was interrupted playing video games.

The day after the victim was treated at the hospital, at 2:27 a.m. on April 29, Ruiz allegedly used her Northumberland County CYS email account to contact Dr. Pat J. Bruno, a pediatrician at Geisinger who specializes in child abuse.

Ruiz allegedly did not identify herself as the victim's grandmother when emailing Bruno.

Ruiz tried to blame the infant's injuries on the dogs living in the home and claimed she had personally interacted with the child on multiple occasions and had not noticed anything out of the ordinary, according to court documents.

Ruiz went on to claim the victim had a vitamin D deficiency. However, police did not find any medical record of this during their investigation.

Police found during their investigation that the victim had been subjected to ongoing abuse at the hands of Erb. Ruiz allegedly was aware of the domestic violence and disturbances occurring in the Snyder County home, Shreve wrote in the affidavit. Ruiz also allegedly was aware that Erb had issues controlling his anger.

Police ruled that Ruiz emailed Dr. Bruno in an effort to provide false information with the intent to mislead the investigation.

Ruiz was charged with misdemeanors of impersonating a public servant, tampering with/fabricating physical evidence, and obstruction.

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The emotional trauma produced by such a scenario is impossible to comprehend: desperately wanting to celebrate the miracle that is birth while battling utter shock and confusion,” Score’s sister Alexa Score wrote. “Not to mention, being unable to talk to family and friends about their grief. This complex situation brings up multiple questions: Who and where are the baby’s biological parents? Where are Tiffany and Steve’s embryos? Were their embryos implanted into someone else? Do Tiffany and Steve have living breathing children in this world? The possibilities are hard to fathom.

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A little girl in Indiana was hospitalized after overdosing on her mom's GLP-1 weight loss drugs.

Jessa Milender, now eight years old, was found on the floor 'lifeless' in December 2024 after injecting herself with her mom's GLP-1 medication.

'I thought it was stomach medicine,' Jessica told WHAS-11. 'My mom takes it and I thought it helped her with her stomachaches.'

Jessa's mom, Melissa, discovered her daughter, who had administered herself with 60 percent of the GLP-1 injector pen, and called poison control.

The seven-year-old had been vomiting almost every hour and experienced diarrhea, constipation and abdominal pain, medical records obtained by the outlet showed.

Jessa was taken to the emergency room with sunken eyes and ashy skin where she was hooked up to an IV.

'The ER staff didn't know what to do,' she told CBS 8. 'They just called Poison Control, and Poison Control told them the same thing they told me. They didn't know how to respond.'

But she was discharged after her symptoms subsided, but when she got home she began vomiting again.

'I don’t think we were prepared for how bad it was gonna get,' Melissa told WHAS-11. 'I should have never let them discharge her.'

Jessa became so weak that her mom had to carry her to the bathroom.

'She was thirsty. That's the only thing that she wanted to do was drink water, but then she would throw it up,' Melissa continued.

The young girl returned to hospital where she then stopped urinating and doctors expressed concern for Jessa's kidneys, the outlet reported.

'She didn’t eat for six days straight,' Melissa said, describing the incident as 'the worst week of our lives.'

'She's my little girl,' she added. 'So that was rough.'

Melissa told CBS 8 that she felt like Jessa was dying and added: 'That's how she looked. She had lost significant weight... her cheeks were sunken in, her eyes were sunken in.'

'She couldn't walk from exhaustion and severe pain. She wouldn't even allow them to touch her stomach. She'd scream out in pain in her sleep. It was awful. It's a miracle that she didn't have long-term effects.'

Now, Melissa keeps her medication locked in a box but said she believes it could have been a lot worse.

'I got it the day she overdosed on it,' she told WHAS-11. 'It's been in my fridge ever since.'

'Once you've injected too much, there's no "Whoops, let me take this to counteract it,"' she continued. 'Like no, now you're dealing with whatever the consequences are of that.'

Melissa hopes in sharing her story that other parents can help protect their children.

'I felt like no one had the answer on how to help her. I should have told her, "Don't ever touch this." It was just such an unprecedented event that I didn't think to plan for, prepare for,' she told CBS 8.

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Selfish Moo
I’m a run of the mill parent and I was appalled at comments saying the mom was worse off WITH her baby than she was without. Maybe materially, but money sure as shit ain’t everything. I’ve lived in poverty and know its contours, and I still would choose poverty with my son over luxury without him.

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Even in the house of horrors that is vaccine-preventable illnesses, polio stands out as particularly terrifying. Before the rollout of the vaccine in the 1950s, the disease paralyzed or killed more than 500,000 people worldwide every year. The disease was especially catastrophic for children, some of whom were confined for years to wheelchairs or a mechanical breathing chamber known ominously as the iron lung. Older people remember being forbidden to play outside during summer outbreaks for fear that they would catch the disease.

The darker chapters of public health history do not seem to faze anti-vaccine activists, who have long claimed that measles, a catastrophic disease, is no big deal. Now, it’s polio’s turn to be downplayed.

Over the last few months, a handful of influential anti-vaccine activists have dabbled in polio denialism. In September, for example, Larry Cook, founder of the anti-vaccine group Stop Mandatory Vaccination, falsely claimed to his 137,000 followers on X that polio “was cured with high dose vitamin C” and that “the polio vaccine NEVER stopped polio. We’ve been lied to for decades and decades.”

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Then, earlier this week, a video of a man holding a baby while talking about polio made the rounds. In addition to repeating Humphries’ and de Becker’s dubious talking points, he claims that modern sanitation could stop the spread of polio. “You have to literally put the feces of a polio-infected human being into your mouth to contract polio,” he announces. “And that sounds more like a sanitation issue rather than a vaccination issue.” (Presumably the baby this guy is holding does not attend daycare, where the fecal-oral route of disease transmission is, uh, robust.) The video has been viewed 376,000 times on X and counting.

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ButIDntWanaBeAPirate
Is Gen Z going to be able to take over someday?

After reading what I’ve read here, I’d be a fool not to ask…

Am I just a juvenoiac, or are these kids being sent out into the world woefully underprepared? Is the bell curve still… well… a bell curve? Are they better/worse/do they need help?

I am beginning to encounter Gen Z in the workforce in a meaningful way, and, uh, well… I see a lot of humor here, so I’m asking the experts, completely in earnest…

I’m a Millennial, myself, and I have no professional educational experience, so I’m not here to judge, but these kids don’t [seem to] know anything about anything, and I want to know if it’s just the ones with whom I work, or if I should get used to this… I work in the tech industry.

So let’s hear it, my ostensibly professionally enlightening friends! What say you?

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musicmaj


People thought the same about millennials and yet here we are.

As I mentioned in a comment a few days ago, my husband's business has a particular problem with the Gen Z employee continually calling out each week for the most ridiculous things, like it being his best buds bday that day. My sister's husband just clocked a Gen Z employee at his work because the guy kept kicking his tools around the construction site, he told him to stop, guy kept kicking them on purpose, so he got clocked. These kids haven't experienced any real world consequences for things like absences or being an annoying little shite, and they think they can continue the same behaviour at work.

But these kids will get fired or punched, many will learn, some won't, and the world will eventually sort itself out, and then the ocean levels will rise and we'll all die anyways.

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musicmaj


Yeah. I'm even more scared for Gen Alpha. My friends are raising Gen A kids and it is...fucking scary. One has a 4.5 year old who isn't potty trained because "her kid doesn't want to and she doesn't want to traumatize her" and for all my friends, none of their kids sleep in their own beds and all bedshare because they can't bear leaving the child alone. Some don't even own separate beds at all for their children.

I have an almost 6 month old. She sleeps great in her own bed in her own room because I never let her bedshare because all safety experts said don't, and then I sleep trained her once it was developmentally recommended. She rolled both directions nice and early because I prioritized her hated tummy time. I have done quite a few things to keep nudging her more and more towards independence, even at almost 6 months old. Because, although this seems to be an unpopular opinion amongst parents these days, I believe the goal of most parenting should be to raise independent humans who have empathy and resiliency. And I just see way too many these days who seem to want to raise entitled kids with no ability to think or do for themselves and melt down at inconveniences or challenges.

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Main thread
Women who never liked brats but became mothers anyway, how did things turn out for you?

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LydiLouWho


I ended up having 3. I still don’t like the kid stage. I don’t like playing, or pretending. I don’t like “watch me”. I don’t like sticky fingers and germs. I don’t like the same conversation day after day after day… But it was never a sacrifice to love and care for my children. And then they became teenagers and became AWESOME. I simply could not get enough of them at that age and being a mom finally felt important and I felt effective as a parent.

A couple are young adults now and they are still just as amazing as when they were teens and I am so happy that I had them. I learned that while I may not like the little kid stage, I was built to be a mom of teens to the point that when my last child finishes high school I am seriously considering fostering/adopting children 12 and up. Nothing would give me more joy than to be a support, and to help them navigate such a challenging time of life.

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musicmaj
I don't really like young kids, and know this because actually I teach elementary music, kindergarten- grade 5. I was forced into the role by my district because they had NO elementary music teachers and I was a high school band teacher. They told me not to expect more job offers if I turned down this job (I had already turned down other elementary jobs, too). I've now been in this role 10 years.

So I knew I really wasn't fond of kids until they're about 9, because I work with them. But I really loved working with teens, and thought if I could birth a teen that would be ideal. I'm the type to try and get out of anyone asking me to hold their baby. Never changed a diaper. Just not a baby or kid person at all. Had a childfree wedding. But I really liked how funny and quirky teens are so I thought if I had a kid, I could just white knuckle it until they reached double digits. I was really afraid of not being able to bond with the baby for awhile.

After having a baby, I still don't like babies. I don't want to hold babies. They hold no interest for me.

EXCEPT MY BABY. She is currently 18 months old and is THE GREATEST THING TO EVER HAPPEN TO ME AND I LOVE EVERY SECOND WITH HER. I love holding her, cuddling her, reading to her, playing with her, just spending my whole day with her.

So in short, I don't feel any different about babies and kids in general after having one, with the exception of my own baby, who is the love of my life.

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ManeaterTM
Now that my 2 kids are adult/teen, I enjoy motherhood. It definitely was not for me when my kids were young. I had kids because I thought my partner really wanted kids. 1 changed his mind and walked out on us. The other, definitely wanted kids and is a great dad.

But motherhood was really rough and traumatic with my first child (former teen mom) and I went through with having a child because I came from a terrible home and wanted to prove a point to my parents (addicts) that I could be a better parent than they ever were.

I did well and I can pat myself on the back. However, it was traumatic raising a child with disabilities as a kid with disabilities myself.

I do not enjoy small kids. I hate small kid activities. I hate loud noises. I like privacy and need like 4hrs of alone time a day.

Would i do it again? Hell no. I put on an academy award winning act to survive it and not traumatize my kids. I did not enjoy any part from birth to 17 years old with my oldest. She is in her 20s now and i can actually enjoy her now. My youngest was way easier and I started to enjoy her when she turned 11years old. They are the absolute best young adults on the planet and I am so proud of them daily.

But i do love my kids more than life itself. I really do not like anything young kid-related though. Even with friends, I experience immense guilt because I do not want to be around their kids (and all my friends are just having kids in their mid/late 30s).

If I had to do it all over again, I'd wait til my 30s and foster teens.

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Criseyde2112

Kids? Ugh. I was raised to be annoyed by children but I also changed career paths and began teaching third grade when I was 37. Suddenly I really enjoyed being around kids. They were fun and appreciated my silly humor.

And then, out of nowhere, I wanted to have a baby. I was 40 when my second IVF cycle was successful. I was over the moon with joy. I loved being pregnant. I loved every stage of my son’s life. I especially appreciated that I was in a fantastic place with my marriage and our finances and our education. Most people don’t get this lucky. There are a million outcomes that might have happened, and I’m so pleased with mine.

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UnicornQueenFaye


Being fully honest, the first three months was rough, I lacked any feelings of attachment, in fact I felt detached, bonding wasn’t coming and I had a harsh bought of postpartum that I didn’t realize I was suffering from.

Thanks to my countries medical care and my spouse’s attentiveness, both issues resolved with time. Now, after three years. I love my kid.

He’s taught me so much about my life. How to be a better person, what really matters in life, how to take time to just play and rest, how to remain calm, how to reframe things to better explain them or have myself be understood.

His existence makes my life better and every day I do everything I can to make his life better, he’s my reason to keep going, keep trying, keep living. His silly happy self brings me a level of happiness I never knew was possible.

I love being a mom.

Still can’t stand other peoples kids.

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Maleficent_Glove_477
To be honest, I still don't really much enjoy kids, including my kid but when she is not here I miss her very much, and I do love cuddle her. She is just very active, always bouncing of the walls, jumping everywhere, rough housing or being up to no good (as a 4 years old kid so it's like if I don't watch her one second she will hide to draw on the walls or climb something she sbouldn't!). She is also very very defiant, always has been, and rough, and I had a chart with stars that she could earn if she didn't hurt me for an entire day. We have yet to see stars on this chart. Not blaming her though her dad is useless and showing the bad example.

She has awesome qualities though, she us insanely strong compared to others kids her age and very athletic, she is smart and curious, come with really nice jokes, her being defiant is I Guess her way of questionning the rules. She won't obey if she doesn't understand.

Even as a kid I was very quiet and more of a reading kid, so even as a kid I didn't like the others kid to be honest.

Wouldn't avoid to have her and start all over because she is still my favorite person but damn, I don't like motherhood much.

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Tiny-historian289
I’ve never liked other people kids but always always wanted to be a mum. I love my kids. I’ve found I’m incredibly patient with small people that are learning and don’t know better yet. Not patient at all with adults that knowingly make poor decisions. I’m a better person to my small people than I am to anyone else.

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Helanore
I was the go to babysitter growing up. I took care of neighbor kids, my brother, and my dad's boss' kids. I hated it. Swore I wouldnt have kids and when my doctor said I had PCOS, I felt relieved.

When I was 21 I met my now husband. Watching him with the nephews, made me feel a desire to see what kind of father he would be. We had one child and i loved being a mother. It was very different experience to babysitting. I have 4 kids now. I couldnt imagine life without them.

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littlehulky
I never wanted kids, I had a great career and I was perfectly content being a cat lady. But my husband really wanted them and my ovaries started playing tricks on me in my late 20s. Once I had one child, I knew that I wanted her to have siblings, so we had 3.

I hated the baby years. I got terrible PPD and I was convinced I would never know happiness ever again. My mantra was “you can be a good parent or you can have fun, but not both.” I thought that being a good mother meant putting myself last and doing everything for my children. I was so sleep deprived and every day was painfully exhausting, thankless, and boring. It didn’t help that I had 3 under 3 during covid lockdowns, so dealing with a newborn and two toddlers without being able to live normal life felt like torture.

However. When my youngest turned 3, it was like the sun came out again and I could breathe. I realised I didn’t have to completely lose myself to motherhood like some misguided martyr, and I started to incorporate some of my old hobbies and passions, and I began to love being a Mum.

Now they are a little older and they are just my favourite humans in the universe. I enjoy their company, I love hearing their little theories on life and how excited they are when they discover new ideas or old ideas for the first time. I miss them so deeply when I am away from them and I would choose this path again every time. They make every experience better, and getting to see the world through their eyes is a special gift. So yeah.

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Stinkykitty71
Not always. I never liked children, then despite two forms of bc I got pregnant the day my ex and I moved into our new house. Everything changed when I found out. I loved being pregnant, and I adore my son. Had another intentionally years later. Best thing ever. But I still don't like kids, just mine. It's a ton of work, and it's exhausting those early years giving them consistency so they don't turn into assholes. They need so much structure and freedom at the same time lol.