The mother of the 14-year-old boy charged with murder in the fatal shooting of four people at Apalachee High School in Georgia contacted the school shortly before the attack, warning of an 'extreme emergency' involving her son, according to a relative.
Annie Brown, the suspect's aunt, told the Washington Post that her sister, Colt Gray's mother, texted her saying she had spoken with a school counselor and urged them to 'immediately' find her son and check on him. Brown provided screenshots of the text exchange to the newspaper, which also reported that a call log from the family's shared phone plan showed a call was made to the school about 30 minutes before gunfire is believed to have erupted.
Brown confirmed the reporting to the Associated Press on Saturday via text messages but declined to provide further comment. Colt Gray, 14, has been charged with murder in the deaths of two students and two teachers at the school in Barrow County, outside Atlanta, on Wednesday. His father, Colin Gray, is accused of second-degree murder for providing his son with an AR15-style rifle. Their attorneys declined to seek bail during their first court appearance on Friday.
Authorities revealed that the teenager had struggled with his parents' separation and taunting by classmates, his father told a sheriff's investigator last year when asked about an online threat posted by his son. The victims were identified as Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, and mathematics instructors Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53.
The killings have reignited the American public debate about safe storage laws for guns and prompted parents to consider how to talk to their children about trauma and school shootings, which occur in the US at a disproportionate rate.
