The grandfather of the 14-year-old who killed four people during a school shooting in Georgia last week said that the boy’s dad deserves the death penalty.
On Thursday, police arrested Colin Gray who was charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder, and eight counts of cruelty to children for his role in his son Colt Gray’s rampage at Apalachee High School in Winder, GA.
The elder Gray gave his son the weapon used to kill two teachers and two students as a Christmas gift despite the teen already having allegedly made threats to shoot up a school and could face up to 180 years in prison. But it’s not enough for Charles Polhamus who wants him to pay the ultimate price.
NEW: Colin Gray rocks back and forth at his first hearing after his son k*lled four innocent people at the Apalachee High School sh**ting in Georgia.
Gray was charged with involuntary mansl*ughter, second degree murder and cruelty to children.
The father faces up to a whopping… pic.twitter.com/LmdXgoYN6Z
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 6, 2024
“He needs the death penalty,” the 81-year-old maternal grandfather said of the elder Gray, a man who he described as “evil” and blamed him for his son’s mental issues.
“Spending 11 years with that son of a bitch screaming and hollering every day — it can affect anybody,” Polhamus told the New York Post. “He’s evil.”
“Colt has to pay for what he did, but I’m telling you, he was driven, no question in my mind,” Polhamus told the outlet. “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.”
He said that Colin Gray “got what he deserved, too,” referring to the charges.
Colt Gray has been charged with four counts of murder and will be tried as an adult for carrying out the bloody massacre.
“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, seemingly referring to violent online content. “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 told the Post. “No question about it. Prior to going through this, he was a good kid. I will preach that forever.”
Gray’s grandmother visited the school on the day before the bloodbath to discuss his behavioral issues.
“My wife had gone up there…the day before and met with the teachers to get him some, they were having some problems with him not going to school, and this kind of thing,” Polhamus told CBS News. “So, my wife went up there. This was the day before all this stuff happened.”
“They couldn’t, they didn’t survive in it,” the grandfather said of the family. His daughter Marcee, who has struggled with drug addiction, was married to Colin Gray.
“She is a good person and a mom,” he said of his daughter who lost custody of her son and has an impressive rap sheet. “But I’m back to what I said about narcissists: They can change anybody.”
“Marcee never did anything to Colt,” Polhamus added. “All she did is help him out.”
“It’s horrible,” Marcee Gray told the post from her dad’s home. “It’s absolutely horrible.”
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