Grandpa of accused Georgia school shooter Colt Gray says teen’s ‘evil’ father should get death penalty for provoking massacre
FITZGERALD, Ga. — The father of accused Georgia school shooter Colt Gray should get the death penalty for his role in the massacre, the boy’s furious grandfather says.
Charles Polhamus, the 14-year-old alleged gunman’s maternal grandfather, told The Post over the weekend that former son-in-law Colin Gray should bear much of the blame for last week’s bloodbath at Apalachee High School that left two teens and two teachers dead.
“Spending 11 years with that son of a bitch screaming and hollering every day — it can affect anybody,” Polhamus, 81, said of his 54-year-old ex-son-in-law, who was married to his daughter Marcee.
“He’s evil,” Polhamus said of Gray.
“They couldn’t, they didn’t survive in it,” he said of the family.
“Colt has to pay for what he did, but I’m telling you, he was driven, no question in my mind,” Polhamus said. “He was driven by his father to do what he did. That’s as plain as I can put it, and I know I’m right.
“[Colin Gray] got what he deserved, too,” he added of the dad, who was charged with four counts of manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children for being an alleged accessory in the school shooting.
Gray gave his troubled son an AR-15-style rifle for Christmas — the weapon that Colt ended up using in Wednesday’s slaughter, authorities have said.
“He needs the death penalty,” the grandpa said of Gray.
Gray faces up to 180 years behind bars if convicted in the heinous crime.
Colt is charged with four counts of murder and will be tried as an adult over the bloody rampage, prosecutors said. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.
“Colt is like a lot of young kids these days with the tablets and some of the garbage they pull up, the blood and all the fighting,” Polhamus said. “If you don’t think that has an impact on young kids, you’re missing the boat, and that was also part of Colt’s problem.
“It’s part of it — and living with a dysfunctional dad who was a screamer and a hollerer,” he added. “No question about it. Prior to going through this, he was a good kid. I will preach that forever.”
Polhamus said Gray squandered the family’s finances and ended up losing their “half-million-dollar farm” because of drug addiction after suffering a back injury.
The granddad said his daughter, Marcee Gray, 43, was also pulled into addiction, which ultimately cost her custody of Colt and the couple’s other children. But she remained committed to her kids, he insisted.
“She is a good person and a mom,” Polhamus said. “But I’m back to what I said about narcissists: They can change anybody.
“Marcee never did anything to Colt,” he added. “All she did is help him out.”
Marcee Gray has a lengthy rap sheet full of drug and domestic violence arrests.
A former neighbor told The Post last week, “There were nights where the mom would lock him and his sister out the house.
“And they would be banging on the back door, just screaming like, ‘Mom! Mom! Mom!’ and crying. It was absolutely devastating,” the woman said, adding Colt would come to her back door at other times dressed in filthy clothes begging for food.
Colt lived with his father by the time of the shooting.
Marcee Gray told The Post on Saturday that she was devastated by her son’s alleged actions.
“It’s horrible,” she said at her father’s home about three hours from Atlanta. “It’s absolutely horrible.”
The distraught mom flew into a panic Wednesday morning when she received a troubling text from her son, with the teen writing, “I’m sorry mom.”
She desperately called Apalachee High School to report an “extreme emergency,” but it was too late.
