A teenager accused of murdering two teachers and two fellow students in a school mass shooting grew up amid domestic violence and addiction and was repeatedly let down by authorities, family members have said.
Colt Gray, 14, is accused of killing four people in a rampage at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, last month in which he shot 11 people, killing four, with an AR-15-style rifle he had been given as a Christmas gift by his father.
Now family members have told the Washington Post there were multiple missed opportunities to address his ongoing issues of alienation, paranoia and threats that allegedly culminated in him posting "im committing a mass shooting" on a Discord message board before carrying out the threat.
The teenager’s grandmother, Debbie Polhamus said his childhood was beset with violence from two parents suffering from addiction, and that the youngster had been overlooked by the system. Polhamus had prodded schools, counselors and caseworkers to help him for years, she said.
She said that three weeks before the shooting, she told him by phone to hide in his room after he called to tell her that his mother was “acting weird again.” He reportedly used the AR-style weapon his father had given him to push her out of his room, then telling his grandmother “I really need you to get my mother out of this house.”
Polhamus told the paper that she believed this was the moment that her grandson stopped believing his life would get better.
The Post’s reported that as early as 2021, shortly after starting sixth grade in August, Gray had used a tablet while at school to search for ways of killing his father. A school counselor called, and two school resource officers showed up to speak with him and his mother, but it was unclear if a report was ever made.
According to school records obtained by the outlet, Gray attended at least six schools in five districts, over a period of five years. At home, his parents often screamed at and slapped each other in front of him, Lauren Vickers, a neighbor, said.
In one notable incident in May 2023, the boy and his father, Colin Gray, were confronted by officers by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and the youngster was asked whether he had said “something about a school shooting.”
The sheriff’s office had been alerted by the FBI that messages on a Discord channel, by a user with a handle related to 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting, threatened violence and shared images of an AR-style rifle and a shotgun.
The user had been traced back to Colt Gray. “im committing a mass shooting,” one message read. “i need ideas for where to shoot,” read another. On a post with a picture of the two guns leaned against a wall: “I’m ready.”
Gray promised he didn’t write the threats, and Miller suggested that was good enough for him. “I gotta take you at your word,” he said, per police body cam footage from the time.
In fact, he had talked at home about his fascination with school shootings for more than a year before the deadly shooting on September 4, according to his mother.
Colt Gray has been charged with four counts of murder for the killings of fellow students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, and math teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53.
Colin Gray, the alleged shooter’s father, has also been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder, and eight counts of cruelty to children for allegedly buying the AR-style rifle for him.
“I failed Colt. I mean, I’ll be the first to admit it,” Polhamus said. If she had done more at key moments, she said, “those other kids wouldn’t be dead. And he wouldn’t be facing life in prison.”
Meanwhile, the families of the four people he allegedly killed have been left mourning their loss in the shocked community of Winder.
Mason Schermerhorn’s sister, Alanna Wallace, said of her little brother: “He loved everyone. No matter what they had, what disabilities, he loved everyone for them.”
"PS5, and his VR headset. He loved playing roblox and Genshin. He had just started learning to play trumpet, and he did it because I play trumpet. He said he wanted to be like me when he got older.”
Christian Angulo’s mother Emma told Univision: “He didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve to die like this," she said, adding, "I miss him. For me this is like ... I wish it was a dream."
Recalling her final moment with him she recalled: “He gave his father and me a hug — I will always carry that in my heart.”
Richard Aspinwall, 39, a math teacher and football coach, died trying to protect his students.
Stephanie Reyna, 17, told ABC News: “My teacher, Coach Aspinwall, he opened the door, and he ran outside to see what’s going on.
“He was just there, in the doorway, just laying there. He was trying to crawl back to us … We just think he was trying to get to us,
Cristina Imrie, 53, was a beloved math teacher, students said. In a statement her church said: “Cristina was a remarkable parishioner and a dedicated individual, passionate about Romanian culture and traditions.”
