Former neighbors of the suspected Apalachee High School shooter shared chaotic details of family life
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STATHAM, Ga – The former neighbors of the suspected Georgia high school shooter shared a glimpse into the family's chaotic home.
Fox News Digital spoke with the neighbors of 14-year-old Colt Gray in Statham, Georgia, a small town of approximately 2,000 residents, where the family of the suspected shooter lived until they sold the home in Sep. 2019.
The current owners of Gray's former home, who spoke with Fox News Digital anonymously, said that the home on nearly 8 acres of land was in disarray when they bought it in 2019.
GEORGIA TEEN SCHOOL SHOOTING SUSPECT LIVED IN SERIES OF RENTAL HOMES AS EMERGING DETAILS SHED LIGHT ON FAMILY
Colt Grey's former residence in Statham, Georgia. Saturday, September 7, 2024 (Ben Hendren for Fox News Digital)
The current neighbor said that Mauree Gray warned his family and their realtors of Colin's volatile mood the day of the move.
"The day we were closing on the house, I was standing with my wife and our relator, and Mauree came up to us and told us to not make eye contact with Colin, they called him Coly," the neighbor said. "Mauree said that he was in a mood, and she didn't know what he would do."
"But when he came in, he was as high as can be," he said. "Red, glassy eyes. He didn't bother anyone, but didn't really interact either."
The neighbor said that during the move in process the kids, including Colt, "were left on their own."
"There was not much supervision," he said.
The childhood home of the Apalachee High School shooting suspect had a picture of Colt Gray's height through the years. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
The neighbor showed Fox News Digital where the Gray family measured the growth of Colt prior to the parent's tumultuous divorce.
The growth chart showed Colt Gray's progress through the years, with the family taking notes in 2017-2019.
Colt Grey's former residence in Statham, Georgia. Saturday, September 7, 2024 (Ben Hendren for Fox News Digital) (Ben Hendren for Fox News Digital)
Other neighbors corroborated stories of Colin Gray's volatile mood, with one elderly neighbor sharing a heartbreaking story of her brief interaction with Marcee Gray.
"It was during the day, but I was home by myself and I saw her [Marcee] running up our driveway," the elderly neighbor recounted. "And she had a child in her hands, and she ran towards our barn in the back and tried to get in. And all of a sudden, I see her husband, in a truck, driving on up and start running towards our barn building."
"Marcee tried to get into the barn building, but it was locked, and when I saw him [Colin] running towards her, I came outside and yelled, ‘What is going on here?’ and he looked up and turned around and left real fast."
"When she left the building, I told her, ‘I’m here if you need me,'" the neighbor said. "And she thanked me and I never saw her again."
The next day, the elderly neighbor was greeted by an unexpected note on her front door.
"It read, ‘Thank you. You saved my life.'" she said. "And it was signed, Marcee."
Colt Gray, charged as an adult with four counts of murder, leaves the the Barrow County courthouse after his first appearance for the Wednesday shooting at Apalachee High School, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, Pool)
Another neighbor shared that Colt was an unusually "bright and witty" child.
WHO IS THE ALLEGED GEORGIA SCHOOL SHOOTER? WHAT WE KNOW
"We gave Colt and his sibling, there was only two at the time, a ride on our horse," the neighbor said. "He was 7 or maybe 8 at the time. And really smart and witty. Really cute kids."
Following the selling of the Statham, Georgia home, the Gray family appeared to spiral, with the parent's subsequent divorce separating the three children. Colt went to live with his father, while the two younger siblings initially lived with their mother.
Following the divorce, Colin and Colt Gray rented two homes in Jefferson, Georgia until their move to Winder, Georgia. The Winder, Georgia rental was where Colt and Colin were living at the time of the heartbreaking Apalachee High School shooting.
Four people were killed and nine were injured during the shooting on Wednesday, Sept. 4. The two students killed in the shooting were identified as Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14. Math teachers Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie were also killed, officials say.
Timeline of Mass Shooting
The shooting was first reported at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday. The sheriff's office received an alert of reports of an active shooter at 10:20 a.m.
GBI director Chris Hosey said law enforcement was at the scene "within minutes."
"Law enforcement had a very, very swift response to this incident," Hosey previously said.
The 14-year-old is being tried as an adult and is being charged with four counts of murder. He is accused of using a semiautomatic AR-style rifle to carry out the shooting.
His father, Colin Gray, faces related charges in the latest attempt by prosecutors to hold parents responsible for their children’s actions in school shootings.
"You don’t have to have been physically injured in this to be a victim," District Attorney Brad Smith told reporters on Friday. "Everyone in this community is a victim. Every child in that school was a victim."
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.
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