The mother and father of Colt Gray, the suspected gunman in the Apalachee High School shooting, have spoken out about their son's actions, revealing that they had warned the school about concerning messages they had received from him.
Authorities in Georgia have released the bodycam footage of a May 2023 interview with Colin Gray, the father of Colt Gray, the suspected gunman in last week's shooting at Georgia's Apalachee High School. In the interview, Colin Gray admitted that his son had access to unloaded guns in the house but knew "how to use them and not use them."
The mother of the suspected gunman, Marcee Gray, has also spoken out, saying she warned the school the morning of the attack, and teachers had already noticed red flags. In an interview with ABC News, Marcee Gray said she called the school counselor on the morning of Sept. 4, 2024, the day of the shooting, to warn officials about a concerning message she'd received from her son, Colt Gray.
Apalachee High School Shooting: Suspect Colt Gray's Mother and Father Speak Out
"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," Gray told the outlet. "Between my gut feelings, the text messages, and now this email, you all need to go, like, run to the classroom."
Gray said the last message she'd received from her son was, "I’m sorry, Mom." She said his father had received similar texts, one that said, "I’m sorry" and "You’re not to blame for this."
Apalachee High School Shooting: Suspect Colt Gray's Mother and Father Speak Out
Marcee Gray said she'd also called Apalachee nearly a week earlier because "I wanted Colt to be admitted to an inpatient treatment. Colt was on board with it."
When she heard about the shooting, Gray said, she "fell to the ground and just started screaming."
Apalachee High School Shooting: Suspect Colt Gray's Mother and Father Speak Out
"I knew what had happened. I just knew in my gut," she said, calling it "unfathomable" what happened to the victims.
"If I could take their place, I would," Gray told ABC News. "I would in a heartbeat."
Apalachee High School Shooting: Suspect Colt Gray's Mother and Father Speak Out
Colt Gray, 14, is accused of fatally shooting four people and injuring eight others in the shooting. He is being held in a juvenile detention center after declining to seek bail.
Colin Gray, the boy's father, has been charged with second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, and cruelty to children for providing his son with the rifle used in the shooting. He is jailed in Barrow County after declining to seek bail.
Apalachee High School Shooting: Suspect Colt Gray's Mother and Father Speak Out
It's unclear if Barrow County School authorities knew before the shooting that Colt and Colin Gray previously had been interviewed by a sheriff's deputy in neighboring Jackson County in May 2023 after a report of an online threat to shoot up a middle school that Colt Gray, then 13, attended.
The bodycam footage of the 2023 interview shows Colin Gray telling the investigator that his son had struggled since he and his wife separated and that Colt was picked on in school.
The shooting at Apalachee High School has shocked the community and raised questions about school safety and the role of parents in preventing gun violence.
