FITZGERALD, Ga. — Accused Georgia school shooter Colt Gray apologized to his mom before he allegedly killed four people — prompting her to make a desperate call in a bid to stop the tragedy, according to his grandfather and a report.
In an exclusive interview with The Post Saturday, Charles Polhamus said his daughter Marcee Gray was visiting him at his home in Fitzgerald, Georgia, when Colt sent her a haunting text Wednesday morning.
“I’m sorry, mom,” the message read.
Marcee, 43, desperately called Apalachee High School and warned a counselor of an “extreme emergency,” a relative told The Washington Post.
“I was the one that notified the school counselor at the high school. I told them it was an extreme emergency and for them to go immediately and find [my son] to check on him,” she told her sister, according to the outlet.
After getting Colt’s text, Marcee rushed into her car to head to Winder, about three hours away, and heard halfway there that two students and two teachers were killed, Polhamus, 81, told The Post
Marcee Gray appeared devastated Saturday when she was spotted carrying pillows into her father’s home.
“It’s horrible. It’s absolutely horrible,” Marcee told The Post, declining to share details about the bloodshed.
After Marcee Gray’s panicked call, school officials appeared to try and avert the disaster, Gray’s sister Annie Brown and another student told The Washington Post.
An administrator was searching for Colt and went to his classroom minutes before the shooting unfolded, but he wasn’t there. Instead, the administrator with the backpack of another kid with a similar name who also was out of the room, the outlet reported.
The stage for the violence was set long ago, Polhamus said, slamming Colt’s dad Colin as “evil” and claiming Colin Gray got Marcee addicted to drugs — ruining the family.
“Collie Gray did this to his family and he will rot in hell for it. That’s a fact,” Polhamus said outside his home. “He needs the death penalty. He is probably one of the worst narcissists in the world.”
An attorney representing Colin could not be reached for comment.
What we know about alleged Georgia school shooter Colt Gray’s family
- Georgia school shooting suspect Colt Gray had difficult home life filled with abuse and neglect.
- Gray’s mother, Marcee has multiple drug and domestic violence arrests.
- Gray’s father, Colin, allegedly bought his troubled son an AR-15 rifle for Christmas. He is now facing charges for supplying the weapon.
- Lauren Vickers, a neighbor of the family, says the children were often locked out of the home.
- Charles Polhamus, Gray’s maternal grandfather, says Colin Gray was verbally abusive towards his grandson and daughter.
- Gray’s aunt, Annie Brown, says Gray had been struggling with his mental health.
Both Colt and Colin, 54, face charges of murder in connection to the cold-blooded shooting. Authorities said Colin gave his son, who is being charged as an adult, the AR-15-style rifle used in the massacre as a Christmas gift.
Although the former marine doesn’t excuse his grandson’s violence, he said Colt was driven to it because of his father.
“He was a good kid turned bad in a bad situation. It’s sad. An environment that a kid grows up in has everything to do with their personality and what they become,” Polhamus said.
Colin regularly screamed at Marcee and the kids, he claimed. Marcee herself once described herself as a victim of abuse wrote her kids were “thriving” after she and Colin split up last year.
Polhamus accused Colin of becoming addicted to opiates a few years ago, after hurting his back. He allegedly pressured Marcee to obtain drugs for him when doctors refused to hand over prescriptions, the grandfather said.
“Living in that environment – they lost their house, he lost his job,” the grandfather said of Colin Gray.
“Two years he laid on his back and never did a thing. My daughter Marcee worked. They had a half-million dollar farm before all this happened and they lost it.”
Marcee — whose rap sheet stretches back nearly two decades — moved with her three kids to Polhamus’ home, he said, but police sent the children back to their father after she was caught with drugs.
Her arrest record includes charges of drug possession, aggravated battery, theft and criminal trespass and she once “threatened to kill her husband” during an incident, according to the Daily Mail.
But her father alleged Colin is “100%” to blame for running Colt off the rails.
Marcee has been clean for about a year and found a good-paying job, her dad said before he theorized the damage her ex-husband had done to the family was too much for the kids to recover from.
“Zero on Marcee. Marcee never did anything to Colt. All she did is help him out,” he said, calling reports that she abused the kids “not true.”
“Colt didn’t cause that to happen. He did it. He didn’t wake up one day and decide I’m going to kill [four] people. No, he didn’t do that. He came out of an environment,” the grandfather claimed.
“If you step in a wad of s–t, what happens to your foot? You step in a wad of s–t. This is no different. To live in that for 11 years, my daughter and her children.”
“If you live in that kind of relationship for 11 years you’re not going to stay stable,” he said, adding the relationship “absolutely” changed his daughter.
He learned last week that he could spend the rest of his life behind bars for the violent present.
“Vengeance is mine, say the lord,” said Polhamus.
“He’s getting what he deserves. My grandson is getting what he deserves, too,” he continued.
“Colt has to pay for what he did but I’m telling you, he was driven, no question in my mind. He was driven by his father to do what he did. That’s as plain as I can put it and I know I’m right.”
The grieving grandfather claimed Colt was apologetic for the bloodshed and was a “good kid” before Wednesday’s violence — emphasizing that Colt “was nothing like his dad.”
When asked what he would tell Colin if he saw him today, Polhamus simply said: “I hope you rot in hell.”
