Call from suspect’s mom to Apalachee High School before shooting was not the only warning that morning

By Isabel Rosales, Lauren Mascarenhas, Celina Tebor, Eric Levenson and Meridith Edwards, CNN

(CNN) — Marcee Gray was 200 miles away from Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, when her gut told her something was not right.

It was Wednesday morning – before the shooting at the school that killed two students and two teachers. She had just received a text message from her 14-year-old son, Colt Gray, saying, “I’m sorry, mom.”

She called the school and asked administrators to check on him.

She recounted her conversation with a school counselor in an interview with ABC News. “The counselor said, ‘Well, I wanted to let you know that earlier this morning one of Colt’s teachers had sent me an email that said Colt had been making references to school shootings,’” Marcee Gray said.

“I told them it was an extreme emergency and for them to go immediately and find Colt to check on him,” Marcee Gray later said in a text message to her sister. “I don’t understand what took them so long.”

Authorities allege Colt Gray killed four people that morning in the shooting. Seven others were wounded by being shot, and two others suffered other injuries, authorities said.

Colt Gray is charged with four counts of felony murder and will be tried as an adult. His father, Colin Gray, 54, also has been charged, accused of knowingly allowing his son to have a weapon. Colin Gray has been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Thursday. Neither has entered a plea.

The teenage suspect’s grandfather, Charles Polhamus, told CNN that after Marcee’s call to the school, he and Marcee then began the drive from his home in Fitzgerald, Georgia, to Winder.

Marcee Gray told ABC News she hadn’t spoken to her son since the shooting.

“I would tell him that I love him – that me and Jesus will love him forever and ever,” she said. “And I would tell him that ‘it’s not your fault.’ It’s not his fault.”

Marcee Gray told CNN in a text Wednesday she is set to speak with Barrow County investigators on Thursday.

The surrounding community, still reeling from the tragedy, started sending their children back to schools Tuesday – with the exception of Apalachee High – as the question persists: Could more have been done to prevent the shooting?

“We know the days ahead are going to be difficult and that we have some staff and some students who are not ready to return to school. We also believe as a school system that it is our responsibility to provide a safe space for those who are,” Barrow County School System superintendent Dr. Dallas LeDuff said in a video message Sunday night.

All other schools in the district reopened Tuesday, with additional security and mental health supports on hand, according to the district.

Warning signs before tragedy

Marcee Gray’s call to Apalachee High was not the only warning made that Wednesday morning. An unknown person called the school and said there would be shootings at five schools that day, and Apalachee would be first, according to police.

Gray stepped out of his second period Algebra class shortly before the shooting started, according to his classmate Lyela Sayarath, who sat next to him.

Shortly after, another student – who has a similar name to Gray – was pulled, along with his backpack, out of class, Sayarath said.

When he returned to class, he told Sayarath that administrators “were looking for the kid who sits next to you, not me.”

Apalachee High School has repeatedly declined to comment on whether another student was mistakenly pulled from the classroom in Gray’s place.

“The school failed them, that they could have prevented these deaths and they didn’t,” Lyela’s mother, Rabecca Sayarath, told the The Associated Press. “I truly, truly feel that way.”

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith has told CNN there were no prior warnings of a possible threat.

A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office on Monday referred questions to the Barrow County District Attorney’s office. CNN has reached out to the district attorney’s office for additional comment.

Suspect’s grandfather says he blames the boy’s father

Polhamus told CNN on Tuesday he blames Colin Gray, Colt’s father, for the shooting.

“He’s the reason all this happened,” Polhamus told CNN by phone, adding that Colin Gray should not have purchased an AR-15-style weapon for his teenage grandson. “He was evil and he’s going to get what he deserves. Unfortunately, he took his son with him.”

Authorities have said Colt Gray told investigators, “I did it,” when asked about the shooting. CNN has reached out to the public defenders representing Colin and Colt Gray but has received no comment.

The grandfather said the shooting breaks his heart and Colt Gray needs to be held accountable, “But he was driven to do what he did.”

“Colt is the one that did it, but I’m telling you, you have kids in this day and age that live in dysfunctional families that end up doing what Colt did,” Polhamus said.

GBI looking at deer hunting video

The FBI had said it received a tip about Gray making threats against schools in May 2023, but deputies in Jackson County, where Gray lived at the time with his father, said they were unable to substantiate the tip.

During the interview, Colin Gray mentioned he and Colt hunted and his son had killed his first deer that year.The father told investigators Colt had access to unloadedguns at the house and he wanted to teach his son about firearm safety.

When an investigator at the time was asked whether Colin Gray had an AR-15, they replied “only hunting rifles.”

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking into a social media video of a deer hunt that was posted in January 2023 to an Instagram account apparently belonging to Marcee Gray. It shows a boy who appears to be Colt listening to a man who refers to the boy as his son.

In Georgia, children 16 or younger can hunt with adult supervision.

The man praises the boy’s shooting skills for killing the deer on his first hunt. He tells the boy to place his Bushmaster 450 rifle on it, lift its head and pose with it for the video.

“What a shot,” the man says. “I love you, son, Greatest day.”

CNN has reached out to multiple law enforcement officials about the video.

A caption on the Instagram post says: “Proud mama right here. All are in agreement he gets his shooting abilities from his mama. Plus he’s hunting with my gun of choice. FIRST hunt ever…FIRST shot ever…One and done, dead deer down!! Colt is 12 but he has 2” and about 15lb on me…he’s been thru so much [blurred word] in his life but he’s gonna be a force to be reckoned with. I love you babyboy.”

CNN has reached out to Marcee Gray for comment on the video.

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CNN’s Sara Smart, Nouran Salahieh, Steve Almasy, Scott Glover, Keith Allen and Kelly McCleary contributed to this report.