Beyond the Shooter: Parent Legal Responsibility in School Violence

Piece by Elle Swoope

On September 4th, at Apalachee High School located in Georgia, two students and teachers were killed, and nine others were wounded, all by the fourteen year old shooter. The shooter reportedly left the classroom with all of his belongings and returned with a rifle and knife in his backpack where he would then execute this year's deadliest school shooting. He is now facing two counts of second-degree murder, four counts of involuntary manslaughter, and eight counts of cruelty to children. The shooter is being tried as an adult which has prompted questions about what this means for him and why this decision was made. 

Minors who commit serious crimes are mandatorily tried as adults typically after committing murder or aggravated murder. All fifty states have transfer laws in order to get particularly egregious cases into criminal court as there is clause in the constitution that mandates minors being tried in juvenile court. If convicted, the juvenile court's authority is terminated and the shooter will be sent to an adult facility. If he is found guilty on all charges he will face a maximum of 180 years in prison.

Furthermore, as much as this is the shooter's fault, his father played a large role in the situation because he supplied his son with the rifle as a holiday present in 2023. His father, Colin Grey has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder, four counts of involuntary manslaughter, and eight counts of cruelty to children. Colin's wife, the shooter's mother, was not let off the hook either, as Oakland County prosecutors claim she and her husband both ignored their son's deteriorating mental health and social isolation, all of the things that “a normal person would have noticed”, yet still supported her husband supplying their unstable child with a lethal weapon. 

The Grey parents are the second example of this, with the Crumbley parents, the Michigan school shooter’s parents, being the first parents to be found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for a U.S school shooting. Prosecutors provided evidence showing that the Crumbleys had an unsecured gun at home and showed neglectful behaviors towards their teens. Both cases are very similar to each other and exhibit careless parenting. Colin Grey as well as the Crumbleys failed to uphold their duty as legal guardians and due to their negligence, people were injured and killed. Negligence has been a crime for decades, so it is shocking that it has taken so long for it to be applied to parents of school shooters, who in some cases perfectly fit the definition of criminal negligence. These cases are extremely important as they set legal precedent which can lead to more family members of school shooters being rightfully prosecuted for their role in the criminal behavior. When tackling this very large and relevant issue, opinions have begun to sprout about the morality of minors facing the brunt of the repercussions instead of punishing other significant figures who may not have necessarily played a direct role in the shooting but were the authority in these situations. 

Should the teens be punished more than the parents who created them? How much free will does a teen with a developing brain have? A teen can’t work, can’t drive, often needs a permission slip signed by a parent and has very little autonomy, so many have questioned why they are being punished for crimes as adults. Should the parents not be punished too? Certainly, in this specific case, his father should be punished, since he purchased the weapon and physically gave it to his 14-year-old son. It does not matter that he did not know his son was going to shoot up the school, but as a parent, it was his job to weigh that risk when he gave his son a weapon and take into consideration his son’s mental health. The weight is always heavier for the parent which is why some believe they should bear the legal punishment when their minor children commit atrocities. It is interesting that the legal system has tried children as adults for years but has not put legal  consequences on the adults responsible for the children until recently. Some people are of the opinion that teens are still children at heart and that they should not be receiving adult levels of hatred and punishment; however, others believe that because they made the inhumane decision to kill others that they should not be treated justly in response, overall creating a complex subject to discuss and create legal basis for. As more school shootings arise, hopefully these cases are able to act as a stepping stone in achieving justice for the victims and their families by prosecuting all those truly responsible.