CNN – The mother of the teenager accused of killing four people during last week’s shooting at a Georgia high school has apologized to the victims’ families in an open letter while insisting her son “is not a monster.”
“To the parents and families of those affected by the tragic events at Apalachee High School, I want to say that I am so sorry from the bottom of my heart,” Marcee Gray, the mother of 14-year-old Colt Gray, wrote in the letter, which she provided first to CNN.
The letter comes one week after the shooting, as questions mount about efforts to prevent the shooting following the revelation Marcee Gray called the school prior to the attack to warn of an “extreme emergency.”
Authorities allege the shooting was carried out by Colt and left two teachers and two students dead at the high school in Winder, Georgia. Seven others were wounded and two others suffered other injuries, authorities said.
Colt Gray is charged with four counts of felony murder and will be tried as an adult.
Dirty Harry’s Two Perfect Words For Colt Gray
“If I could take the place of Mason and Christian, I would without a second thought,” Marcee Gray wrote, referring to the two 14-year-olds killed in the mass shooting.
“As a parent, I’ve always said that the loss of one of my children would be the only thing that I wouldn’t be able to come back from. I feel all of your pain and devastation. I grieve and cry with you.”
Marcee Gray added her “heart breaks for the 2 teachers who gave their lives while in the service of teaching and protecting our children,” acknowledging Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, who were also killed.
“We are all in a living nightmare right now, and I will personally never forgive myself for what has happened,” she wrote. “My son Colt is not a monster. He is my oldest baby … ”
