The “evil” father of Georgia school shooting suspect Colt Gray deserves to die for turning his son into a mass murderer, the boy’s grandfather said.
Colin Gray faces four counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of second-degree murder amid allegations that he gave his son the AR-15-style rifle used in the massacre at Apalachee High School on Wednesday.
Gray’s former father-in-law said the 14-year-old boy “was pushed by his father to do what he did” when it emerged that Colt’s grandmother visited the school outside Winder just hours before the shooting to discuss his behavior.
“Spending 11 years with that son of a bitch screaming and yelling every day can take a toll on anyone,” Charles Polhamus, 81, told the New York Post.
“He needs the death penalty.”
Colin Gray, 54, the father of suspected Georgia school shooter Colt Gray, shook in court Friday as he appeared to face four counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of second-degree murder.
Colt Gray, 14, was “pushed” by his abusive father to carry out the massacre that left four dead, his grandfather Charles Polhamus has claimed
Gray, 54, appeared in court Friday after being arrested for his role in the shooting that killed two students and two teachers and left nine others injured.
The alleged gunman’s parents separated in 2022 after they were evicted from their home and Colt was living with Gray when the shooting occurred.
“Colt has to pay for what he did, but I’m telling you he was motivated, there’s no doubt in my mind,” Polhamus said from his home in Fitzgerald.
‘Colt is like a lot of kids today with the tablets and some of the trash they pick up, the blood and all the fighting.
“If you don’t think this has an impact on young children, you’re missing the boat, and that was part of Colt’s problem, too.
“It’s part of it, and part of living with a dysfunctional father who yelled and screamed.
“There’s no doubt about it. Before I went through this, I was a good kid. I’ll always say that.”
Polhamus said his wife Deborah had gone to school the day before the shooting as the family’s concern for Colt grew.
“They had some problems because he wasn’t going to school and that kind of thing,” she said. CBS.
A court had previously ordered Colt Gray’s mother, Marcee, to have only limited contact with Colt’s father after he pleaded guilty in December to a family violence charge.
Mason Schermerhorn, 14, an autistic student at Apalachee High School, was the first victim to be identified. He was among four people killed in the mass shooting.
Heartbreaking messages between an Apalachee High School student and his mother revealed the moment the children learned there was an active shooter
Teachers Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie also died in the tragedy.
‘My wife had gone there the day before and met with the teachers to get her something.’
Polhamus spoke out after it was claimed his daughter, Marcee Gray, called her son’s school to warn them of an “extreme emergency” minutes before the shooting began.
“I told them it was an extreme emergency and they needed to go immediately to get (my son) to see how he was,” the mother told her sister in text messages seen by The Washington Post.
The outlet reported that a call log from the family’s shared phone plan shows Gray made a 10-minute call to the school at 9:50 a.m. Wednesday, about a half-hour before Colt allegedly opened fire.
He then got into his car and began driving to school, more than three hours away.
But halfway there she learned that the tragedy she was trying to prevent had already happened.
“I was the one who notified the high school guidance counselor,” she told her sister.
Other text exchanges reported by Marcee’s sister showed that Colt’s school and family were also in contact regarding his deteriorating mental health at least a week before the shooting.
Georgia school shooter Colt Gray made his first court appearance Friday
Colin Gray appeared shortly after his son in the same courtroom.
In one text, Brown allegedly told a family member that Colt was having “homicidal and suicidal thoughts.”
“He shouldn’t have a gun and he should have been in THERAPY months ago,” he added in the text.
Brown said her nephew had spent months “begging” for mental health help, but “the adults around him had failed him.”
Colt Gray’s AR-15-style rifle can be seen in the hallway of Apalachee High School.
A court had previously ordered Marcee to have only limited contact with Colt’s father after she pleaded guilty in December to a family violence charge.
Months earlier, in May 2023, the family had received a visit from local police after receiving a tip from the FBI about threats to carry out a school shooting.
Colt denied making the threats, and Gray told police that although he had hunting rifles in the home, his son was not allowed to use them without supervision.
But the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said the boy’s father allowed him access to the AR-style rifle used in the shooting, which investigators say was given to him as a Christmas present in December of last year.
Polhamus said his former son-in-law cost the family their “half-million-dollar farm” after falling into drug addiction following a back injury.
And she said her daughter was drawn into her then-husband’s addiction, but always remained committed to her three children.
“She’s a good person and a good mother,” he insisted. “But I go back to what I said about narcissists: they can change anyone.”
“Marcee never did anything to Colt. All she did was help him.”
She also said her grandson texted her the morning of the shooting saying, “I’m sorry, Mom.”
“Colt didn’t cause that to happen. He made it happen,” Polhamus said.
“He didn’t wake up one day and decide he was going to kill people. No, he didn’t. He came out of an environment.
“If you step in a pile of shit, what happens to your foot? You step in a pile of shit.
‘This is no different. Living 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.”
People mourned at a vigil for victims of Georgia’s deadliest school shooting
Several classmates shared similar stories describing how Colt quietly slipped out of algebra class around 10 a.m. Wednesday, before returning minutes later with a gun.
Another student, Bri Jones, 14, said she almost opened the door for Gray, but stopped “when he was reaching for his gun.”
“I was frozen, like I was frozen and saying ‘no’ to myself,” Jones told CNN. “She would have beaten every single one of us in that class.”
Jones said he almost opened the door, but stopped after a warning from his mother.
“I always look at the door before opening it… it’s a habit my mother taught me,” he said.
Although she saw the gun, Jones said her teacher urged her to open the door “because she didn’t know he had a gun because it was in his desk.”
“She was going to go over there and open it and I said, ‘No, he’s got a gun,'” Jones recalled.
“The shooter looked up,” Jones continued. “He was looking at me, my teacher, and then someone was in the hallway. He turned his head and started shooting.”
‘Once he started shooting, it was like he just kept shooting, it was so many shots after shots… It seemed like he was shooting forever, and then he stopped.’
Students said that when Gray was unable to get into his own classroom, he opened fire on the one next door whose door was open.
At the time, teacher Richard Aspinwall was shot dead in front of his horrified class, which student Malaysia Mitchell says left her traumatised.
“We had to drag our teacher’s body into the classroom,” he told CNN. “We heard him take his last breath.”
Fourteen-year-old students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo were also killed in the deadliest school shooting in Georgia history, along with 53-year-old math teacher Christina Irimie.
“He pulled the trigger,” Polhamus said. “He killed people and he’s my grandson, and that breaks my heart.”
Colt is being tried as an adult and was told at his court appearance on Friday that he could spend the rest of his life behind bars for his violent act.
Her father faces eight counts of cruelty to children, as well as murder and manslaughter charges.
“He’s getting what he deserves. My grandson is getting what he deserves, too,” Polhamus said.
“Vengeance is mine,” says the Lord.