Georgia school shooting suspect’s aunt breaks silence after tragedy: ‘Hearts and humble prayers’

EXCLUSIVE: Annie Polhamus Brown told The Independent that her thoughts right now are focused on “the families affected by this devastating tragedy.”

Annie Polhamus Brown is still processing the ghastly charges against her 14-year-old nephew (Getty Images)

While authorities continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding Wednesday’s tragic school shooting in Winder, Georgia, the suspect’s aunt — who has been highly critical of her sibling’s parenting skills — is doing her best to process the ghastly accusations against her 14-year-old nephew.

“Our hearts and humble prayers are with the families affected by this devastating tragedy,” Annie Polhamus Brown told The Independent.

Polhamus Brown, who lives in Florida with her golf pro husband, said Thursday that she and the rest of the family are “eager” to share their thoughts about what might have prompted incoming freshman Colt Gray to allegedly gun down two classmates and two teachers at Apalachee High School, but that “it will not be at this time.”

Although she posted on social media Thursday morning to say she had done “EVERYTHING I COULD TO FIGHT FOR MY NEPHEW!!!!!!,” Polhamus Brown, 37, has slammed older sister Marcee Polhamus Gray and Marcee’s estranged husband, Colin Gray, in Facebook comments and posts dating back almost two years. In one November 2022 comment, underneath a post by Marcee about Colin supposedly having been abused as a child, she called out her brother-in-law for not seeing a therapist to deal with his problems.

The Winder, Georgia home where Colt Gray lived with his father and two siblings was crawling with enforcement after the shooting (Fox 5 Atlanta)

Polhamus Brown also lambasted Marcee, 43, for her continuing reliance on their parents, who she said bailed her out of jail and took her in following a stint in rehab. Polhamus Brown declined on Thursday to discuss the posts in further detail, promising that she would “definitely” share her thoughts “at the right time.”

Marcee was first arrested in March 2007 on five vehicle-related misdmeanors, including reckless driving, improper right turn, and DUI. She pleaded guilty in June 2008, paying a $600 fine and receiving 12 months probation, plus 40 hours of community service, according to a review of Fulton County, Georgia court records. She “successfully completed all conditions of probation” in August 2010, the docket shows.

Marcee Gray was arrested last November on a variety of felony and misdemeanor charges (State of Georgia)

In November 2023, Marcee was arrested on a pair of felony drug possession charges after allegedly getting caught in her car with “a glass jar with a crystal-like substance known to be methamphetamine,” and a “red clear baggie with a powder substance known as fentanyl,” according to an arrest warrant filed in Barrow County Superior Court. She was also hit with misdemeaors for having “a clear glass pipe used for the ingestion of narcotics,” a baggie containing “multiple” tablets of cyclobenzaprine, a prescription pain pill, and for affixing someone else’s license plate to her Nissan Rogue, records show.

Marcee ultimately pleaded guilty to three misdemeanors: second-degree criminal damage to property, criminal trespass, and use of a license plate to conceal identity. Although she faced a maximum sentence of seven years in prison, Marcee was sentenced to a month-and-a-half in jail, which was all but canceled out with credit for time served, plus roughly five years of felony probation, according to plea documents in the case. The judge forbade her from using drugs or alcohol, and she was barred from having contact with her husband.

The victims of Wednesday’s mass shooting ranged in age from 14 to 53 (Supplied)

Marcee also faced civil charges brought in 2019 by a Chevy dealer who accused her and her husband of passing a bad check as a down payment, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (The final disposition of the case is unclear.)

Reached by phone on Thursday, the sisters’ 74-year-old mother, Colt Gray’s grandmother, declined to comment. Marcee and Colin Gray were unable to be reached.

Colt Gray, who was probed last year by the FBI but not charged with a crime after allegedly making mass-shooting threats, is now facing four counts of felony murder. He is being tried as an adult for the deaths of 14-year-old students Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn, and teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53. At least nine others were hospitalized with a range of injuries.

By Thursday morning, more than $100,000 had been raised for the victims’ families.