Mom of Georgia school shooting suspect charged ‘after taping elderly relative to chair’

The 74-year-old spent almost 24 hours taped to chair, according to police

The mother of the Georgia teen accused of killing four people in a school shooting earlier this month has been indicted for allegedly taping her 73-year-old mother to a chair.

Marcee Gray, 43, allegedly taped Deborah Polhamus to a chair, stole her phone, and damaged her house during the November 3, 2023 incident, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Gray is the mother of Colt Gray, 14, who is charged with murder for allegedly opening fire on September 4 at Apalachee High School.

Gray’s ex-husband and Colt’s father Colin Gray has also been charged in connection with the shooting for allegedly giving his son access to the rifle used in the massacre.

The November confrontation between Gray and her mother began when Polhamus refused to go to Barrow County with Gray to confront her ex-husband, according to police.

Domestic incident allegedly began when Marcee Gray (left) flew into rage after her mother refused to join her to confront her ex-husband Colin Gray (Ben Hill County Sheriff’s Office; Georgia Bureau of Investigation)

“Marcee became upset and told Deborah that she was making her go with her because she was going to kill her ex,” the incident report, obtained by the AJC, reads.

“Deborah stated she refused to go and Marcee threw her up against the wall causing a cut on her left wrist. Marcee stated that since Deborah wasn’t going she was going to tie her to a chair and take her phone so she wouldn’t call anyone.”

The senior spent nearly 24 hours taped to the chair, only being discovered when another of her daughters became concerned she couldn’t reach the 73-year-old and sent someone to check on her at her home in Ben Hill County.

Marcee Gray is the ex-wife of Colin Gray (left) and mother of Colt Gray, who have both been charged in conection with the September 4 mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Barrow County

Gray was indicted Monday on single counts of exploitation, intimidation of a disabled adult or elderly person, false imprisonment, criminal damage to property in the second degree, and theft. She was granted a $5,700 bond in Ben Hill County in April.

The most serious of the charges, exploitation, carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years. The Independent has contacted Marcey Gray for comment.

Colin and Marcee Gray’s two other children were living with their father at the time of the shooting.

The mother called Apalachee High School on the morning of the shooting to warn officials about her son, according to text messages obtained by The Washington Post.

“I was the one that notified the school counselor at the high school,” Marcee Gray texted her sister after the shooting, according to the Post. “I told them it was an extreme emergency and for them to go immediately and find [my son] to check on him.”

After the shooting, Gray wrote an open letter to the victims’ families, arguing her son was “not a monster” for the shooting, which killed students Mason Schermerhorn, Christian Angulo, both 14, and teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53.

“If I could take the place of Mason and Christian, I would without a second thought,” Marcee Gray wrote in the letter.