Georgia
Mother Of Georgia High School Shooting Suspect Apologizes In Open Letter
Topline
The mother of the 14-year-old student suspected of opening fire in a Georgia high school last week, killing four people and injuring nine others, apologized for her son’s actions in a new letter Wednesday, but insisted he is “not a monster,” CNN reported.
Students and community members make a prayer circle around a makeshift memorial outside of Apalachee … [+]
Key Facts
Marcee Gray—the mother of Colt Gray, the student suspected of killing four people at Apalachee High School last week—wrote in an open letter addressed to the parents and families of those affected “I am so sorry from the bottom of my heart,” and added: “I will personally never forgive myself for what has happened.”
“My son Colt is not a monster,” she continued in the letter, which was first reported by CNN, and asked people to “pray for him and the rest of our family, as I am praying for all of you every moment of every day.”
It was previously reported that Marcee Gray received a text from her son the morning of the shooting that read “I’m sorry, mom,” and that she called the school to warn of an “extreme emergency” about 30 minutes before police responded to the shooting.
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Key Background
Colt Gray has been charged as an adult with four counts of felony murder related to a school shooting last Wednesday at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia. Four people—two students and two teachers—were killed in the shooting, and the 14-year-old suspect was apprehended at the scene after surrendering to police. In the week since the shooting, information has come out about past threats of school shootings Gray had been accused of making, and at least one family member told The Washington Post he had struggled with mental health.
Tangent
Gray’s father, Colin Gray, was also charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The charges were filed after Colin Gray told officials he had bought his son the gun used in the shooting as a gift. The charges mark some of the most serious brought against a parent of a suspected school shooter, and come months after Jennifer and James Crumbley were sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter after buying their son—who went on to kill four students at a Michigan high school in 2021—a gun as a gift despite warning signs about his mental health.
Further Reading