Georgia School Shooting September 4, 2024, Father on trial, should the mother also be on trial

***Updated March 3, 2026 The father of the school shooter has been found guilty. He faces a possible  180 years in prison.****

 The trials in school shootings are always about Monday Morning Quarterbacking.

This trial is no different, except that the father is on trial with criminal charges for supplying the gun to his very troubled child.  Troubled child or not, this father gave a gun to his minor child who then used it to commit murder.

You can probably tell where my prejudice lies. It is not with the shooter, the father and after the mother's testimony, it is definitely not with her. The mother medicated the shooter with zoloft which was her prescription per testimony.

A clear case of dysfunctional parenting led to the school shooting.  Is that anything new? I think not.

Watch the coverage of at least the mother's testimony.  Lots of law tube shows are following it, for example Court TV.  

There is additional testimony that is interesting also. It is the principal's testimony from a previous school.

Monday morning quarter backing will not bring the lives back of the staff and children killed. But maybe a sensible person will listen and try to do better for our kids in other schools.

School shootings are common, not rare. The trials of parents are rare but should be more common in situations like this.

If you give access to a a gun to a child, troubled or not, make sure you understand the consequences to you if it is used for murder, because you deserve to be put on trial. 

I am tired of every gun owner being punished when people like the shooter's family act so irresponsibly.

The child killer could have used a knife, but he used a gun given to him by the father. There are laws that are meant to prevent this shooting. If the kid had been an underage driver, not legally able to drive, who drove a car into the school, wouldn't you expect the same type of responsibility? I would.

Part of Mother's testimony. It is still live today, February 23, 2026. Find the whole video as it becomes available:

https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=mother+testifies+in+school+shooting+trial&mid=8F11BB8B2123564AAEDB8F11BB8B2123564AAEDB&churl=&mcid=98ABC04AC973

Listen to what the mother did to her mother. It was criminal. The grandmother's testimony is telling. 

Principal of previous school:

https://youtu.be/8G5rp7lQWcY?si=8kGZhhosw1Vy_MTJ

School shootings are preventable. When they are not, trials like this one should happen.

School counselor at high school where shooting happened. She at least listened to the grandmother.

https://www.youtube.com/live/Uqq75JWupUA?si=-FbOszqYFsTrgRmP

The kid's trial hasn't started yet. His lawyers will probably use this trial to get the shooter a lower sentence. 

They could put the shooter and his parents in the same cell forever. Maybe then parenting could become a priority for them.

Marian R. Carlino

February 23, 2026.

Dear Reader and Media Frenzy

 

January 5, 2026 updated edited for blog publication on February 8, 2026

Dear Reader,

In 2023 after listening to the publisher on a podcast, I decided to take a leap of faith and write my story, in book form. I had been writing blogs and editorials for many years. My editorials and posts hit home or at least hit nerves. My publisher believed my story was worth telling.

On April 20, 2024, my book was released. It is a combination of narrative, sworn taped testimony, and observations. The date of April 20 is significant. It had been 26 years since April 20, 1998, when the motivation to speak and write had been documented in legal testimony in a closed-door hearing.

My story is still timely and significant. Backed up by sworn taped testimony, it is my story of trying to get help for a troubled child, and the retaliation that followed.

I do not write as a victim, I write as a voice who spoke up before any serious, irrevocable violence could happen in my class and school. I write as a voice, who continued to address the issues that happen in our nation’s schools, even when my own administration tried to silence my voice. I write as a voice that overcame the fear of retaliation when others just wanted to bury their heads in paychecks. I write as a voice of reason with practical advice.

I write with a faith-based foundation, but my particular faith is for me. No one should take my faith beliefs as an insult to theirs but rather see it as a way I worked through the difficult times.

I write to encourage others to speak up. The Columbine High School mass shooting happened on April 20, 1999, one year to the day after I was called incompetent for seeking help for a young child. I write with confidence and competency.

I write, present tense, because as long as I am able to speak, I will be a voice against the violence.

I am asking you to read my book and to share it with others.

Sincerely,

Marian R. Carlino

Update:  I am including this on my blog. I sent this note to various podcasters, lawyers and people with whom I have watched or interacted.  

Today, someone posted on a Telegram channel about the extreme media coverage of a missing, and now possibly presumed dead, mother of an internationally famous news correspondent. The story is sad but brings international attention and coverage because of the daughter. The missing woman was not famous in her own right. The person on Telegram asked why the millions of stories of non-famous people are not covered at such depths.  I responded that it is a disconnect and looking at inner responsibility. Even in our own neighborhoods and families, some stories are passed off as not important. I gave a few examples.

Well to God, all people are important. He actually knows it all. He knows the story of the unknown person.

I took comfort in that knowledge in 1998 since my story, although then drawing the attention of a local reporter, seemed not to matter to people outside of my classroom. Best friends, colleagues and family members took no notice of my story or tried to ignore it. But I knew my story was important then and still is now.

My book has not made the NY Times Best seller list. Is it because of my style of writing? I am reading a book by Dorothy Day. She had connections, but her style of writing is really not any different than mine, although she wrote from a socialist point of view and I do not. She also like protests a lot more than I do!

My story may be hard for some to read. It involves personal responsibility in our own families, school and neighborhoods. If we stay local, our efforts could have national impact. Jesus did not travel the world on the seven seas!

I encourage you to read my book. In a violent world, as we see daily, one will see that stories are important, you may not miss the piece of the puzzle next time a preventable event has its eyes set on your community.

The people in the small community north of Tucson, Arizona have been interviewed this week. They say they have never seen anything like this before.  Surprisingly, I have not heard anyone say, "We never thought it could happen here."

Violence impacts us all, maybe that is why the missing person in Tucson, Arizona reminds us that none of us are immune. What else can we learn by the current media frenzy in the small community?

Marian R. Carlino

February 8, 2026