The 14-year-old police say is responsible for killing four and injuring nine at Apalachee High School reportedly sent a text message to his father apologizing, a Friday report claimed emergency services dispatch records showed.
Existence of the purported message from Colt Gray to his father, Colin Gray, was revealed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which reported the maternal aunt of the accused killer called law enforcement about an hour after the shooting.
Polhamus-Brown reportedly made the call after receiving a message from the teen’s maternal grandmother, who informed Polhamus-Brown of the existence of the text messages.
“Hey, um, my mom just texted me and said that my nephew texted his mom and dad this morning and told them that he was really sorry and he goes to the high school, Apalachee,” Polhamus-Brown reportedly told emergency services.
She reportedly explained, “My mom just called me and said that Colt texted his mom, my sister, and his dad that he was sorry, and they called the school and told the counselor to go get him immediately, and then she said she saw that there had been a shooting and I’m just worried it was him.”
It was not previously reported that Colt Gray contacted his father, but both Polhamus-Brown and the teen’s mother, Marcee Gray, have made public statements about the message the mother reportedly received from Colt Gray.
Marcee Gray recently revealed that, in addition to the text, she received a communication from a counselor at Apalachee High School, who told her that Colt Gray made references to school shootings on the morning of the attack.
According to the mother, it was a combination of the text message from her son, the message from the counselor, and her intuition that prompted her to report an “extreme emergency” was about to unfold including her son in a phone call to Apalachee High School.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) has revealed the rifle Colt Gray allegedly used on September 4 was legally purchased by Colin Gray, and it was reported the teen received it as a Christmas present.
Last week, the state agency also said Colt Gray concealed the weapon inside his backpack, and confirmed Colt Gray only spent two full days on the Apalachee High School campus after enrolling two weeks late.
Both Colin Gray and Colt Gray (pictured here) remain in jail. The teen was charged with four counts of felony murder and his 54-year-old father was charged with two counts of second-degree murder, four counts of involuntary manslaughter, and eight counts of cruelty to children.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
