A family member of the 14-year-old boy slated to be tried as an adult for four murders in a Georgia school shooting has leaped to his defense Wednesday.
Annie Polhamus Brown, Colt Gray’s aunt, threatened on Facebook to go “full throttle” in support of her nephew and “take care” of him after police said he killed two teachers and two students at Apalachee High School.
Brown noted she would “not disrespect other parents and families that are dealing with this tragedy on the opposite end,” adding “they did not deserve this!”
ADVERTISEMENT
Annie Polhamus Brown said, while her sympathies and support are with the families of the victims of the Apalachee High School shooting, she will do her all to support her alleged murderer nephew.
Facebook“With that said, I will not leave my nephew standing alone!!!!” Brown added. “When [the 2022] Uvalde [school shooting] happened, I told my own children that ‘only hurt people hurt people.’”
Gray allegedly opened fire at Apalachee in the city of Winder, killing two teachers and two students, while injuring nine.
Brown alluded to home difficulties suffered by Gray, telling others to “check yourself before you speak about a child that never asked to deal with the bulls--t he saw on a daily basis!” She said she “will take care of my nephew and what he needs on this side.”
Colt Gray, the Apalachee High School shooting suspect.
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty/Handout“I am not scared, I will not back down,” said Brown, of her resolve in supporting her nephew. In a comment to one post, however, she laid bare her devastation at the horrific events, writing “I am absolutely f---ing crippled right now.”
The FBI said Wednesday that local police questioned Gray in May 2023, when he was 13, about internet posts he allegedly made containing threats to carry out a school shooting and images of guns. The federal agency had several anonymous tips about the posts, as well as info on where they originated.
Gray’s father told officers from the Jackson County Sheriffs that his son did not have unsupervised access to the hunting guns present in the home. No probable cause for arrest was determined.
