WINDER, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — Photos of a shrine to a mass school shooter allegedly created by his son marked the beginning of Friday’s judicial proceedings against Colin Gray, who is facing 29 felony counts connected to the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting at Apalachee High School that left four dead and nine injured.

Colin Gray’s son, Colt Gray, is accused of carrying out the attack.

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Debbie Polhamus, Colt Gray’s grandmother and a retired educator with 43 years of teaching experience, testified about the deteriorating conditions in her family.

Polhamus testified Colt Gray had been impulsive and troubled for years. She was not made aware of a deeply concerning computer search in sixth grade — a search for “how to kill your dad”— until months after it occurred. She testified her daughter Marcie, Colt Gray’s mother, had failed to inform her of the discovery.

After moving between several Georgia cities, Polhamus testified the family continually faced eviction. At the start of the Covid pandemic, Polhamus urged her daughter to move with the children to Fitzgerald, Georgia.

However, in 2022, Colt Gray chose to remain with his father Colin Gray in Barrow County, wanting to get away from his mother, according to Polhamus.

During Christmas 2023, Polhamus visited the children at Colin Gray’s home in Barrow County. During this visit, Colt Gray told his grandmother about a rifle his father had given him as a Christmas present.

“Colt brought it out to show,” Polhamus testified. She was unsure where the firearm was kept, but in a subsequent statement to the Barrow County Sheriff’s Deputy on Sept. 9, 2024, she stated clearly: “Every time I went up there [to Barrow], I saw the gun was kept in Colt’s room.”

When Colt Gray asked for bullets as a Christmas gift, his grandmother told him he would need to ask his father. At 14 years old, Colt Gray was not attending school.

Heather Lashley, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime scene agent, testified investigators discovered unsecured ammunition and firearms scattered throughout multiple rooms.

In the laundry room alone, officers found ammunition boxes, a tactical-style vest, an ammunition can containing eight full cartridge boxes, and loose ammunition stored in a plastic box, all kept in an unlocked storage container.

Investigators also recovered a Glock case containing two handgun magazines, speed loaders, and a gun lock still in its original packaging.

In a shared bedroom between Colin Gray and his youngest son, Coley, Lashley testified a closet contained two guns — a shotgun and an AR-style rifle — along with multiple ammo boxes stacked on the top shelf.

Lashley testified the closet was unlocked and the door stood open when agents arrived.

Two loose cartridges were found laying inside the bedroom itself, and swim goggles were also discovered among the items.

Lashley also testified while Colt Gray had a room in the house, he appeared to have been sleeping in a laundry room, using the other room as a game room.

Lashley testified that room’s wall was covered with photographs and newspaper clippings of Nicholas Cruz, the gunman responsible for the 2018 Parkland High School mass shooting in Florida that killed 17 people.

Lashley said the shrine was immediately visible from the doorway of the room, adding the photographs and clippings appeared to have been printed out and deliberately posted on the walls.

Lashley also said several shooting targets, a laser targeting device, shotgun shells, and an unopened gun lock were found in that room’s closet.

Colin Gray’s defense attorneys noted Lashley had not been provided information about the specific type of gun used at Apalachee High School, and they questioned whether the weapons found at the home matched the cartridges recovered from the shooting scene.

The defense also challenged the timeline regarding the shrine, noting Lashley could not determine when the newspaper clippings were printed or when they were affixed to the walls.

Thursday’s proceedings included testimony showing that when deputies arrived at Colin Gray’s home just minutes after the shooting, he told them his daughter had texted about a school lockdown. By 9:17 a.m., body camera footage captured Gray stating, “God, I knew it,” and revealing he had been attempting to get his son into counseling.

Colt Gray’s educational history revealed a pattern of instability. He transferred schools at least nine times between elementary school and high school, attending institutions across multiple counties.

DETAILS

Colin Gray faces up to 180 years in prison if convicted on all counts. Colt Gray is facing four counts of murder, as well as a slew of other charges, in connection with the shooting. His trial date has not been set.

>> Colin Gray’s Apalachee school shooting trial | What you need to know

>> Full coverage of the Apalachee High School shooting

The jury of eight men and seven women is expected to hear three weeks of testimony, with Colin Gray potentially facing up to 180 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

Both Colin Gray and his son Colt Gray have pleaded not guilty.

Atlanta News First will stream the trial gavel-to-gavel until its conclusion.

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