The father of accused Georgia school shooter Colt Gray believed that his 14-year-old son was too gentle, and bought him the AR-15-style rifle in an attempt to “toughen him up,” a relative claims.
Colin Gray gave his troubled son the assault rifle for Christmas — the weapon that Colt ended up using in last Wednesday’s bloodbath at Apalachee High School that left two teens and two teachers dead, authorities have said.
But it was the way Colin spoke to his son that raised the eyebrows of concerned family members.
“He would call Colt names to his face,” says a relative of Colt’s mother, Marcee. “Names that no boy wants to hear: sissy, p—y, bitch… just names that were meant to break him down and emasculate him.”
The relative added: “Colin always thought that Colt was too gentle and tender. That’s why I believe he gave him the rifle.”
Colt is charged with four counts of murder and will be tried as an adult over the bloody rampage that left two students and two teachers dead, prosecutors said.
He faces up to life in prison if convicted.
Colin, 54, was also arrested in the aftermath of the shooting.
He has been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children in the second degree.
If he’s convicted of all charges, Colin faces up to 180 years in prison.
“He’s evil,” Charles Polhamus, the 14-year-old alleged gunman’s maternal grandfather, told The Post over the weekend. “Spending 11 years with that son of a bitch screaming and hollering every day — it can affect anybody.
“He was a good kid turned bad in a bad situation.”
The victims of the shooting have been identified as Christian Angulo, 14; Mason Schermerhorn, 14; Cristina Irimie, 53, and Richard Aspinwall, 39.
Colt had been on the FBI’s radar since last year.
In May 2023, the FBI flagged local cops, who questioned Colt and Colin about online threats “to commit a school shooting.”
At the time, Colt denied making the threats, and his father told authorities that his son did not have unsupervised access to hunting guns in the house.
But Colin Gray also told sheriff’s deputies at the time that his son was often picked on by bullies who would pinch him and taunt him.
Start your day with all you need to know
Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.
Thanks for signing up!
“Colt’s gay,” his father said they would call out in the hallways of the school.
“He’s going through a lot,” his father told an officer at the time, according to a police transcript. “He just wants us to have a simple life. It was very difficult for him to go to school and not get picked on.”
While many in the Gray family are gun owners, relatives questioned the wisdom of giving a teenage boy an AR-15-style rifle. “When I heard it, I was like ‘what the f—‘” said the relative. “You don’t give something like that to a kid. It’s a recipe for disaster.”
“There was a lot of talk about ‘making a man’ out of Colt,” said the relative. “You know, just that whole mentality of toughening him up and making him stronger. That was Colin’s top priority, and you see where that got us. It’s just so sad.”
