US School shooting: Suspect Colt Gray sent 'haunting' text to mother before killing four
Georgia school shooting accused Colt Gray's grandfather sent a 'haunting' text and apologised before he allegedly attacked the school and shot dead four people.
In an exclusive interview with New York Post, Charles Polhamus said his daughter Marcee Gray was visiting him at his home in Fitzgerald, Georgia, when Colt sent her a text Wednesday morning, just hours before he allegedly committed the crime.
“I’m sorry, mom,” the message read.
Marcee, 43, reportedly called Apalachee High School and informed the counsellor of an 'extreme emergency'.
“I was the one that notified the school counselor at the high school,” Marcee Gray texted her sister following the shooting on Sept. 4, according to a screenshot of the exchange as quoted by The Washington Post.
“I told them it was an extreme emergency and for them to go immediately and find [my son] to check on him," the text said.
Marcee Gray described the developments in the school as 'horrible'.
“It’s horrible. It’s absolutely horrible,” Marcee told the New York Post.
The Apalachee High School shooter, who killed two teachers and students during the shooting incident this week, was raised in a troubled home, media reports said.
Colt Gray, the baby-face Georgia school shooting suspect who is charged with murdering two classmates and two teachers, grew up in a broken and neglectful home, which police and child services visited on a regular basis, a former neighbour and landlord told The New York Post.
His mother, Marcee, 43, has a lengthy rap sheet with drug and domestic violence arrests, the American newspaper reported.
Colt's father Colin Gray was arrested with authorities saying he 'knowingly allowed his son' to have the weapon.
Colin Gray has been arrested with four counts of Involuntary Manslaughter, two charges of Second Degree Murder and eight of Cruelty to Children, said the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI).
Meanwhile, Lauren Vickers, who lived next-door to the Grays in Jefferson, Georgia, told The New York Post that there were “problems immediately” when the Grays and their three children moved into the well-manicured neighborhood 60 miles east of Atlanta in 2022.
“There were nights where the mom would lock him and his sister out the house. And they would be banging on the back door, just screaming like ‘Mom! mom! mom!’ and crying. It was absolutely devastating,” she said.
Colt Gray was charged with four counts of felony murder in connection to the shooting at Apalachee High School, an incident which left the country shocked.
"He was taken to the Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center. Additional charges are expected," GBI said in a statement.
Victims identified
Two students and two teachers died in the shooting incident in the school which is located in Winder city.
GBI identified the two deceased students as Mason Schermerhorn (14) and Christian Angulo (14).
The teachers, who lost their lives in the shooting incident, were identified Richard Aspinwall (39) and Cristina Irimie (53).
This was the 45th mass shooting in a US school in 2024.
It was the deadliest shooting incident since March 2023 when six people died after a gunman attacked The Covenant School in Nashville.
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