Georgia shooting suspect’s mother warned school of ’emergency’, US media reports

The mother of the suspect in last week’s Georgia shooting contacted his school to warn of an “extreme emergency” and asked them to check on her son the day of the attack, US media reports.

Both the suspect’s mother and grandmother were in contact with the school prior to the shooting, according to reports.

Colt Gray, 14, is accused of carrying out a shooting at Apalachee High School that left four people dead and nine injured. He faces four counts of first-degree murder.

The revelations come after authorities also charged the suspect’s father, Colin Gray, with second degree murder, manslaughter, and child cruelty.

Officials accuse him of allowing his son to possess an AR-15 style rifle.

Both father and son appeared in court on Friday but neither entered a plea.

The Washington Post obtained text messages sent by the boy’s mother, Marcee Gray, to her sister, explaining that she had asked school officials to check on her son the morning of the shooting.

“I was the one that notified the school counsellor at the high school,” Ms Gray wrote.

“I told them it was an extreme emergency and for them to go immediately and find [my son] to check on him.”

The suspect’s aunt, Annie Brown, provided the text messages and call logs to the Post. The suspect’s mother later confirmed the records to the newspaper.

Ms Brown also confirmed the text exchanges to other US media outlets.

It is not clear what caused the mother to contact the school, though CNN reported on Sunday that she did so after her son sent her a text saying: “I’m sorry”.

The phone records show Ms Gray called the school about a half an hour before the shooting began.

According to the Post, there appears to have been some confusion when a school administrator went to look for the boy, as another child had a similar name.

Separately, Charlie Polhamus, Colt Gray’s grandfather, told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, that the boy’s grandmother had spoken with school officials that week.

“My wife had gone up there… the day before and met with the teachers to get him some, they were having some problems with him not going to school, and this kind of thing,” he said.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is handling the case, did not immediately return a request for comment.

The Barrow County School System has also not commented to media on the reports.

Colt Gray is accused of shooting and killing two 14-year-olds, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, and teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53.

In the months leading up to the shooting, he had faced mental health struggles and difficulties at home, Ms Brown told the Washington Post.

The FBI also said that police interviewed the boy in May 2023 about anonymous online threats to commit a school shooting. He denied to police he was behind them.

Vigils have been held to commemorate the victims and mourners have created a memorial of flowers, candles, and balloons outside Apalachee High School.