Mother of Georgia mass shooting suspect called school before attack

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The mother of the teenager charged with fatally shooting two students and two teachers at a Georgia high school on Wednesday called the school that morning and warned a counselor about an "extreme emergency," the Washington Post reported.

Marcee Gray, the mother of the suspected shooter, 14-year-old Colt Gray, said she told the counselor to find her son immediately, the newspaper reported. Phone records provided by a relative to the Post show a 10-minute call to Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, at 9:50 a.m., about 30 minutes before the attack began.

Gray declined to detail what prompted her call but told the Post on Saturday she had shared that with law enforcement. She expressed remorse for the "pain and suffering" that the victims and their families are going through.

A school administrator went to her son's math class that morning, according to another student, the Post reported, but he was not in the room.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the lead investigative agency, referred questions to the Piedmont Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office, which is prosecuting the case. The office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.

Colt Gray has been charged as an adult with four counts of murder. His father, Colin Gray, is also charged with murder, involuntary manslaughter and cruelty to children, in an emerging legal strategy to hold parents responsible for allowing access to firearms to minors who carry out attacks.

Prosecutors say Colin Gray provided the weapon used in the shooting.

In May 2023, investigators from a neighboring county interviewed both Colin and Colt Gray about online threats to carry out a school shooting. Colt Gray said he had not made the threats, and his father said his son did not have free access to his hunting rifles.

The case was closed after investigators could not substantiate that either Gray was connected to the threats.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)