"You seem to relish following in the footsteps of the murderers you idolize, you aren't wracked with guilt. You're proud of yourself."
After pleading guilty to all 55 counts on Tuesday, he was sentenced to life without parole. Judge Nicholas Primm handed down the sentence and said in court, "You wrote, 'I want to make history. I want people to remember the pain I caused,' and there you succeeded. The pain that you visited upon this community is unlikely to disappear in my lifetime."
"You do not seem to be tormented by what you did. You seem to relish following in the footsteps of the murderers you idolize, you aren't wracked with guilt. You're proud of yourself," the judge added, per ABC News.
Primm said that Gray had "studied and obsessed" over mass shootings and that he was aware other school shooters also got life without parole. He added that the ruling does not bring joy but will bring closure to the families impacted by Gray's actions.
"The slain will not return to life, the injured will not forget their wounds, and a 16-year-old—a 16-year-old boy—will live and die in prison," Primm added.
Gray was 14 when he took a firearm that he was gifted to him from his parents and opened fire at Apalachee High School in Georgia. He killed two students (Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo) and two teachers (Richard Aspinwall and Cristina Irimie) and injured several others. He pleaded guilty last Friday but did not negotiate a plea deal.
From left to right: Richard Aspinwall, Christina Irimie, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian AnguloThe state had argued that Gray did not suffer an "emotional breakdown" but committed the violent act because he wanted "eternal fame" after the shooting.
"I think it's become abundantly clear through the state's presentation of evidence that the ultimate goal of all of his actions and his underlying motive was to be famous. Famous not in the sense that we adults think of fame, but specifically famous and popular within this subculture community known as the TCC," District Attorney Brad Smith said on Tuesday.
"He's the only one in the history of Georgia who has ever taken an assault rifle into a public school and opened fire on perfect strangers, simply so he could be famous," he added.
The defense focused on Gray's upbringing and said that he "spared a community" by admitting his guilt. Gray's father, Colin Gray, also faces sentencing on Thursday after a jury convicted him on 27 charges related to him giving Gray the rifle that the teen then later used in the shooting.
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