The mother of suspected Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray told her family that she called her son’s school to warn them of an ‘extreme emergency’ on the morning that he allegedly killed four people.
Marcee Gray, the alleged shooter’s mother, was seen in text messages shared by The Washington Post telling her family: ‘I told them it was an extreme emergency and for them to go immediately and find [my son] to check on him.’
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 9:50am on Wednesday, about half an hour before Colt allegedly opened fire.
A counselor at the school told Marcee that her son had been talking about school shootings that morning, according to Gray’s sister Annie Brown who spoke to The Post.
Marcee Gray, the alleged shooter’s mother, told her family that she called her son’s school to warn them of an ‘extreme emergency’ on the morning that he allegedly killed four people
Colt Gray, 14, was arrested on Wednesday at Apalachee High School in Winder, minutes after authorities say he opened fire on 13 students and teachers, killing four
Soon after the shooting began, reports surfaced that Apalachee High School received a warning that the tragedy could unfold.
In reported texts sent by Marcee, she told her family: ‘I was the one that notified the school counselor at the high school.’
According to Brown, her sister called the school because she learned something concerning that made her fear an ‘impending disaster’, however it is not reported what it was that she learned.
Her sister Annie Brown said that Marcee was told by a counselor that her son was displaying disturbing behavior that morning, ominously talking about school shootings.
At the same time, one of Colt’s classmates Lyela Sayarath – who previously shared a chilling account of how close she came to death – told the outlet that a school administrator went to find Colt in their class.
In her previous account to CNN, Sayarath said Colt was a serial class skipper and she assumed that was what he was doing when he left the classroom minutes before the administrator arrived.
However, there was some confusion as there was another student with a similar name to Colt’s in the class. Neither was in the room, and the administrator left the room with the similarly named student’s backpack.
Minutes later, the shooting began.
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
Teachers Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie were also killed in the tragedy
Student Christian Angulo, 14, also lost his life in the senseless shooting
The texts offer a clearer picture over how close school officials came to finding Colt before he allegedly opened fire.
Further text exchanges reported from 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.
In one text, Brown reportedly told a relative that Colt was having ‘homicidal and suicidal thoughts.’
It comes as the teen’s, Colin Gray, has also been charged with a litany of crimes, including murder. Prosecutors say he gave his son the weapon ‘with knowledge he was a threat to himself and others.’
Brown said that her nephew had spent months ‘begging’ for mental health help, but the ‘adults around him failed him.’
Both father and son are facing life in prison.
Several classmates shared similar stories describing how the teen quietly slunk out of algebra class at around 10am on Wednesday, before he returned minutes later with a gun.