Georgia shooting suspect’s mother warned school of ’emergency’, US media report
The mother of the suspect in last week’s Georgia shooting contacted the suspect’s school to warn of an “emergency situation” and ask them to check on her son on the day of the attack, US media reported.
Both the suspect’s mother and grandmother reportedly contacted the school before the shooting.
Colt Gray, 14, is accused of carrying out the shooting at Apalachee High School that left four people dead and nine injured. He faces four counts of first-degree murder.
The revelations come after authorities also charged the suspect’s father, Colin Gray, with second-degree murder, manslaughter and child abuse.
Officials accused him of allowing his son to own an AR-15-style rifle.
Both father and son appeared in court on Friday but no one offered any defense.
The Washington Post received text message The note was sent by the boy’s mother, Marcee Gray, to her sister, explaining that she had asked school officials to check on her son the morning of the shooting.
“I was the one who notified the school counselor at the high school,” Ms. Gray wrote.
“I told them that this was an emergency and they had to go immediately to find [my son] to check on him.”
The suspect’s aunt, Annie Brown, provided text messages and call logs to the Post. The suspect’s mother later confirmed the records to the newspaper.
Ms Brown also confirmed the text message exchange with other US media outlets.
It’s unclear why the mother contacted the school, though CNN reported Sunday that she did so after her son sent her a text message saying, “I’m sorry.”
Call records show Ms. Gray called the school about a half hour before the shooting began.
According to the Post, there appears to have been a mix-up when a school administrator went looking for the boy because there was another child with a similar name.
Charlie Polhamus, Colt Gray’s grandfather, recounted CBS NewsBBC’s US partner, that the boy’s grandmother spoke to school officials that week.
“My wife went there… the other day and met with the teachers to get things for my son, they were having some problems because my son wasn’t going to school and stuff like that,” he said.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is handling the case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Barrow County School System has not yet commented to the media on the reports.
Colt Gray is accused of shooting and killing two 14-year-old boys, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, and two teachers, Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53.
Brown told The Washington Post that in the months leading up to the shooting, he had been dealing with hardships and mental health issues at home.
The FBI also said the police interviewed The boy was arrested in May 2023 for anonymous online threats about carrying out a school shooting. He denied to police that he was behind the threats.
Vigils were held to remember the victims and mourners created a memorial of flowers, candles and balloons outside Apalachee High School.
