“I’m so, so sorry and cannot fathom the ache and struggling they’re going via proper now,” Grey advised The Put up in a textual content.
Representatives of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the company overseeing the investigation into the taking pictures, and of the Barrow County Sheriff’s Workplace declined to reply questions and referred The Put up to the Piedmont Judicial Circuit District Lawyer’s Workplace. District Lawyer Brad Smith didn’t reply to requests for remark.
The suspect, Colt Grey, is charged as an grownup with 4 counts of felony homicide. He appeared in courtroom Friday however didn’t enter a plea.
The decision log and texts had been offered to The Put up by Brown, who mentioned she administers the household’s mobile plan.
The texts Brown acquired about Grey notifying the college had been despatched from a cellphone belonging to their mom, the suspect’s grandmother, however Brown mentioned Grey was the sender. The 2 tackle one another as “sister” within the alternate. A screenshot offered by Brown exhibits that the quantity that made the decision to the college that morning was saved in Brown’s cellphone underneath “Mar,” a shortened model of her sister’s identify.
Brown mentioned her sister known as the college after she realized one thing regarding about her son and feared an “impending catastrophe.” Brown mentioned within the interview she didn’t know particulars about what her sister had realized or how.
Brown beforehand advised The Put up that her nephew had spent months “begging” for psychological well being assist, and that the “adults round him failed him.” His struggles had been difficult by a tough dwelling life, she mentioned.
The suspect’s mom in December pleaded responsible to a cost of household violence and was ordered to have solely restricted contact with Colin Grey, her husband and the suspected shooter’s father, in accordance with courtroom data. In 2022, the Grays had been evicted from their dwelling and the suspect’s mom and father separated, in accordance with regulation enforcement data. The household has additionally had contacts with Georgia’s youngster welfare company, authorities have mentioned.
In Might 2023, native regulation enforcement officers contacted the teenager after receiving an FBI tip about on-line threats to perform a college taking pictures, in accordance with data launched by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Workplace. The teenager denied that he had made any such threats. Colin Grey advised authorities on the time that he saved looking rifles in the home, and that his son was allowed to make use of them with supervision however didn’t have “unfettered entry.”
Colin Grey has been charged with second-degree homicide in reference to the killings, in addition to involuntary manslaughter and cruelty to youngsters. Authorities mentioned he knowingly allowed his son to have the weapon. The Put up tried to contact the daddy earlier than his Thursday arrest however was unable to achieve him.
The week earlier than the taking pictures, the teenager’s grandmother, Deborah Polhamus, had met with a college counsellor to request assist for him, The Put up has beforehand reported. He “begins with the therapist tomorrow,” Polhamus wrote in a textual content message to Brown after that assembly.
It’s not clear whether or not the suspect attended that remedy session. Polhamus has not responded to requests for remark.
In an August 29 textual content with a member of the family, Brown mentioned she was hopeful about plans the household had made with the college to get her nephew into remedy. She additionally raised considerations about her nephew’s entry to weapons within the dwelling.
“He has been having homicidal and suicidal ideas, he shouldn’t have a gun, and he ought to’ve been in THERAPY months in the past,” Brown wrote. She wrote that she had beforehand tried to get him into remedy with out success.
After the taking pictures at Apalachee, the suspect’s mom expressed frustration that the college had not prevented the tragedy, textual content messages present. The period of time that elapsed between her warning to the counsellor about her son and the primary pictures fired was “simply a very long time for them to intervene so I’m curious to know what occurred in that point,” she wrote to Brown, in accordance with a screenshot of the message.
Sayarath, 16, who beforehand spoke with CNN about her expertise, advised The Put up she was in her second-period algebra class shortly after 10am Wednesday morning when an administrator got here trying not for Colt Grey – Sayarath’s seat neighbour – however for an additional pupil who sat close by and had an analogous identify.
It isn’t clear what prompted the administrator’s go to and whether or not the decision from Marcee Grey performed a task.
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That pupil had gone to the toilet, the algebra instructor advised the administrator, Sayarath mentioned. The coed’s crimson and black backpack was nonetheless within the classroom, and the administrator took it along with her when she left.
In that second, Colt Grey was additionally not within the classroom. He had left, Sayarath mentioned.
Shortly after, the scholar with an analogous identify returned together with his backpack in hand, Sayarath mentioned. He advised her that an grownup within the hallway had requested him a few first-period instructor he didn’t have, and that he believed that the grownup could have been on the lookout for Colt Grey.
Not lengthy afterward, a voice came visiting the intercom asking the instructor to examine her e mail, in accordance with Sayarath. The instructor walked to her laptop, then continued going over algebra issues. Moments later, Colt Grey approached the classroom and the instructor mentioned as much as the intercom, “Oh, he’s right here,” Sayarath recalled.
One other pupil was about to open the door to let him inside, however then observed he had a gun and stepped again in alarm, Sayarath mentioned. The door was locked, and the armed teen couldn’t get into the classroom. Sayarath heard the primary pictures seconds later.
Rabecca Sayarath, Lyela’s mom, drove to Apalachee as quickly as she received a name from her daughter concerning the taking pictures because it unfolded.
That night, Sayarath tried to ask about her daughter’s account at a information convention with regulation enforcement officers, and he or she made quite a lot of assertions concerning the suspect’s habits and the college’s response. With out being particular, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith mentioned she had “incorrect data.”
In an interview with The Put up, she mentioned she believed faculty officers had been on the lookout for the suspect and was livid they didn’t take extra aggressive motion sooner. “You had been on the lookout for the child … and also you didn’t lock up the college while you came upon he wasn’t within the class?” she mentioned. “If they’d locked the college down, lots of people may nonetheless freaking be right here.”