Mother of suspected Georgia school shooter repeatedly arrested for drugs and violence
The mother of the 14-year-old suspect in a Georgia high school shooting has a lengthy criminal record dating back over two decades in four counties.
Marcee Gray has faced prosecution on allegations of domestic violence, drug possession, property damage and traffic violations in Barrow, Fulton and Forsyth counties, and also faced civil fraud charges related to a vehicle purchase, reported the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Her son, 14-year-old Colt Gray, is expected to be charged as an adult with murder in the deaths of two 14-year-old classmates and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Winder.
The 43-year-old mother of three was arrested on Nov. 6 in Barrow County on suspected possession of methamphetamine, fentanyl and muscle relaxants, and investigators say she also concealed the identity of her vehicle with a tag belonging to another vehicle.
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Court records show she wasn't actually charged with drug possession but pleaded guilty in December to a single count of using a using a license plate to conceal identity, criminal damage to property in the second degree and criminal trespass/family violence.
Gray was sentenced Dec. 21 to five years in jail, with the first 46 days in custody and the remainder on probation, and she was credited for the time she spent in jail since her arrest the month before.
She was ordered to pay more than $1,500 in restitution to an Atlanta construction company and prohibited from having contact with her husband Colin Gray except through a third party on matters related to their children or divorce.
An order related to that restitution shows Gray was at the Ben Hill County Jail on April 5, and another order in the Barrow County case shows she may be subject to prosecution in another county but does not provide additional details.
A newspaper report from January shows she faced charges of aggravated battery, theft by taking, criminal trespass, false imprisonment and failure to appear in court.
Court records show Gray had been previously prosecuted in 2019 on misdemeanor traffic charges in Forsyth County and faced a speeding charge in Barrow County in 2014, she had been charged in 2008 in Fulton County for traffic offenses, including driving under the influence, from a year before.
An auto dealer sued her five years ago for allegedly using a $10,000 check as a down payment in September 2018 to purchase a new Chevrolet Suburban, but there wasn't enough money in her and her husband's account to cover the payment.
Records show that a bank in Gwinnett County had an ongoing garnishment claim on Colin Gray's paychecks for about a year.
A classmate who was sitting beside Colt Gray just before he left his Algebra I class, retrieved a rifle and opened fire in another classroom said she wasn't surprised he was the shooter.
“He never really talked. He was pretty quiet,” said classmate Lyela Sayarath. “He wasn’t there most times either. He just didn’t come to school or he just would skip class, but even when he would’ve talked, it was one-word answers and short statements.”