WINDER, Ga. — Officials now know how accused Apalachee High School gunman Colt Gray got the AR-style gun into the school a week ago.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said the large rifle was not broken down but was carried into the school in Gray’s backpack. It was, however, obscured so it wasn’t noticeable.
“He brought it on his own. It wasn’t hidden in the school, it wasn’t given to him by someone else,” Smith said according to WSB. “It would have stuck out, but he had some things that made it concealed.”
The sheriff said that Gray had the gun with him the morning of Sept. 4 and when he asked a teacher if he could go to the front office. It happened during the school’s second period, The Associated Press reported.
Smith said going to the office with his possessions “was not uncommon. He asked to go up front and speak to someone at the front, and when you do that you take your belongings with you, so the teacher allowed him to leave.”
Gray went to the restroom, pulled out the gun and started shooting, Smith said.
In about a minute, a school resource officer got Gray into custody, but it was enough time for four people to be killed and nine others injured.
Meanwhile, Gray’s mother has written an open letter to the community, apologizing for what happened.
“To the parents and families of those affected by the tragic events at Apalachee High School, I want to say that I am so sorry from the bottom of my heart,” Marcee Gray wrote, according to CNN. She provided the cable news network with a copy of the letter.
Marcee Gray had tried to alert school officials about concerns she had for her son the same morning of the shooting. She had warned them of an “extreme emergency” as she called it.
Her son had sent her a text message that read “I’m sorry,” that morning. The teen’s father, Colin Gray, also received similar messages that day, the AP reported.
Marcee Gray said school officials were worried about her son already.
“The counselor said, ‘Well, I want to let you know that earlier this morning, one of Colt’s teachers has sent me an email that said Colt had been making references to school shootings,” Marcee Gray told ABC News.
After the call was complete, Marcee Gray and her mother started driving 200 miles from Fitzgerald, Georgia to Winder, Marcy Gray’s father said, according to CNN.
A week before the shooting she and her side of the family asked the school for assistance in getting Colt Gray psychiatric help.
“I wanted Colt to be admitted to an inpatient treatment,” Marcee Gray told ABC News. “Colt was on board with it.
“If I could take the place of Mason and Christian, I would without a second thought,” Marcee Gray wrote, referring to the two students killed. “As a parent, I’ve always said that the loss of one of my children would be the only thing that I wouldn’t be able to come back from. I feel all of your pain and devastation. I grieve and cry with you.”
She said that everyone in the community is “in a living nightmare” and will “never forgive myself for what has happened.”
Marcee Gray also talked about her son. “My son Colt is not a monster. He is my oldest baby. He is quiet, thoughtful, caring, funny, and extremely intelligent. Please pray for him and the rest of our family, as I am praying for all of you every moment of every day.”
Colt Gray was charged with four counts of murder and is being treated as an adult. More charges are expected to be filed against the 14-year-old, the AP reported. Colin Gray was charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children. Colin Gray said he bought the gun used in the shooting for his son for Christmas.
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