Deborah Polhamus, the maternal grandmother of teenage school shooter Colt Gray, took the stand to testify Friday in the murder trial of his father Colin Gray.
Polhamus is predicted to inform the jury she had considerations about Colt Gray’s psychological well being previous to the school taking pictures and relayed these considerations to the teenager’s father, based on the prosecution’s opening statements.
Colin Gray has pleaded not responsible to almost 30 expenses, together with two counts every of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, in reference to the mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, in September 2024 that left 4 individuals useless and 9 wounded.
Prosecutors allege Colin Gray purchased his son the AR-15-style rifle used in the taking pictures regardless of earlier warnings that his son was a hazard to others, actions that represent criminally reckless conduct.
Colin Gray’s protection legal professional stated in opening statements that he was unaware his son was planning the taking pictures and had taken steps to attempt to get him assist.
The trial started Monday with opening statements and has featured emotional testimony from surviving students, lecturers and the officers who responded to the assault.
On Thursday, prosecutors offered testimony displaying what Colin Gray knew about his son and what he did about it.
School officers laid out Colt Gray’s historical past of school misbehavior and spotty attendance file. He raised alarms at a number of center colleges, together with when he searched “how to kill your dad” on a school pc in August 2021, and when he was suspended in spring 2022 for drawing swastikas and writing “Hitler” on his calculator, school officers stated.
The teen didn’t seem to attend any school, on-line or in any other case, for his eighth grade 12 months in 2023-2024, when he was beneath his father’s care. He attended just a few days of excessive school earlier than he carried out the assault on September 4, 2024.
Prosecutors additionally confirmed the jury Colin Gray’s statements to police on body-camera footage instantly following the school taking pictures. Law enforcement officers went to his dwelling and informed him he couldn’t depart.
“God. I knew it,” Gray stated, based on the footage. “My little girl just texted me, she’s in middle school, she said ‘We’re in lockdown.’ I’m like, ‘God almighty, please tell me your brother didn’t do something.’”
It’s not clear what the officers stated to him previous to this remark. Prosecutors stated in opening statements Colin Gray “blurt(ed)” it out.
Colin Gray’s trial is an element of a broader push to carry extra individuals accountable for a school taking pictures, together with the shooter’s parents and responding law enforcement officers. This case bears shut similarities to the trials of James and Jennifer Crumbley, whose then-15-year-old son killed 4 college students in 2021 at his excessive school in Oxford, Michigan.
Colt Gray, then 14, in the end surrendered to police and has admitted to the shooting, based on authorities. Now 16, he has pleaded not responsible to 55 felony counts, together with 4 counts of malice murder. A trial date has not been set.