The suspected school shooter in Georgia apologized to his mother before allegedly killing four people – after which she called the school in a panic

FITZGERALD, Ga. — Georgia school shooter Colt Gray apologized to his mother before allegedly killing four people, prompting her mother to make a desperate call to prevent the tragedy, according to his grandfather and a report.

In an exclusive interview with The Post on Saturday, Charles Polhamus said his daughter, Marcee Gray, was visiting him at his home in Fitzgerald, Georgia, when Colt sent her a haunting text message Wednesday morning.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” read the message.

In desperation, Marcee, 43, called Apalachee High School and warned a counselor of an “extreme emergency,” a relative told The Washington Post.

“I was the one who notified the high school counselor. I told them it was an extreme emergency and they should go immediately and [my son] to check on him,” she told her sister, according to the outlet.

After receiving Colt's text message, Marcee rushed to her car to drive to Winder, about three hours away, and heard halfway there that two students and two teachers had been killed, Polhamus, 81, told The Post.

Marcee Gray appeared devastated on Saturday when she was seen carrying pillows into her father's house.

“It's horrible. It's absolutely horrible,” Marcee told the Washington Post, declining to provide details about the bloodshed.

After Marcee Gray's panicked call, school officials apparently tried to avert disaster, Gray's sister Annie Brown and another student told the Washington Post.

A school principal went to his classroom looking for Colt minutes before the shooting, but he was not there. Instead, the principal had the backpack of another child with a similar name who was also not in the classroom, the newspaper reported.

The stage for the violence was set long ago, Polhamus said. He called Colt's father, Colin, “evil” and claimed that Colin Gray got Marcee addicted to drugs and ruined the family.

“Collie Gray did this to his family and will burn in hell for it. That's a fact,” Polhamus said outside his house. “He needs the death penalty. He is probably one of the worst narcissists in the world.”

A lawyer representing Colin could not be reached for comment.

Both Colt and Colin, 54, are charged with murder in connection with the cold-blooded shooting. Authorities said Colin gave the AR-15 rifle used in the massacre to his son, who is being charged as an adult, as a Christmas present.

Although the former Marine did not excuse his grandson's violence, he said Colt was driven to it by his father.

“He was a good boy who became evil in a bad situation. It's sad. The environment in which a child grows up has a big influence on his personality and what he becomes,” Polhamus said.

Colin regularly yelled at Marcee and the children, he claimed. Marcee once described herself as an abuse victim and wrote that her children were “fine” after she and Colin split last year.

Polhamus accused Colin of becoming addicted to opioids after a back injury several years ago. He allegedly pressured Marcee to get medication for him when doctors refused to issue prescriptions, the grandfather said.

“They lived in this environment – ​​they lost their house, he lost his job,” the grandfather said of Colin Gray.

“For two years he lay there and did nothing. My daughter Marcee worked. They had a farm worth half a million dollars before all this happened and they lost it.”

Marcee – whose criminal record stretches back nearly two decades – had moved into Polhamus's home with her three children, he said, but police sent the children back to their father after she was caught with drugs.

Her criminal record includes charges of drug possession, grievous bodily harm, theft and trespassing, and according to the Daily Mail, she once threatened to “kill her husband” during an incident.

However, her father claimed that Colin was “100 percent” to blame for driving Colt off track.

Marcee has been clean for about a year and has found a well-paying job, her father said, before speculating that the damage her ex-husband had done to the family was too great for the children to recover from.

“Zero against Marcee. Marcee never did anything to Colt. She only helped him,” he said, calling reports that she abused the children “untrue.”

“Colt didn't cause this. He did it. He didn't wake up one day and decide: I'm going to kill [four] people. No, he didn't. He came from a background,” the grandfather claimed.

“If you step in a pile of shit, what happens to your foot? You step in a pile of shit. This is no different. Living in this for 11 years, my daughter and her children.”

“When you're in a relationship like that for 11 years, the relationship doesn't stay stable,” he said, adding that the relationship had “absolutely” changed his daughter.

Last week he learned that he could spend the rest of his life behind bars because of his violent past.

“Vengeance is mine, says the Lord,” said Polhamus.

“He gets what he deserves. My grandson also gets what he deserves,” he continued.

“Colt has to pay for what he did, but I'm telling you, he was driven, there's no doubt in my mind. He was driven by his father to do what he did. That's as clear as I can put it, and I know I'm right.”

The grieving grandfather claimed Colt had apologized for the bloodshed and was a “good boy” before Wednesday's violence, stressing that Colt was “not at all like his father.”

When asked what he would say to Colin if he saw him today, Polhamus simply replied, “I hope you rot in hell.”