Authorities have identified the two 14-year-old students and two teachers who were gunned down during a sickening massacre at a Georgia high school Wednesday morning.
Teens Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo were killed along with math teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53, when alleged gunman Colt Gray, 14, opened fire inside Apalachee High School around 10:30 a.m., authorities said during an evening press conference.
Aspinwall was also an assistant coach of the Winder-based school’s football team and served as its defensive coordinator, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
A fundraising page started for Aspinwall’s family by a friend said the educator died protecting his students.
“It’s just so hard to think that somebody that you spent so much time with, because this is my second year with coach, but spending so much time, like family basically,” sophomore player Isaiah Hooks told Fox 5 Atlanta.
“So, turning around, knowing that he’s not going to be there.”
Angulo was remembered as a “very good kid” who was “very sweet and so caring,” his oldest sister said in another GoFundMe page.
“He was so loved by many. His loss was so sudden and unexpected,” she wrote. “We are truly heartbroken. He really didn’t deserve this.”
A pal of Angulo since middle school was in disbelief when he heard there was a shooting at Apalachee High.
“I started asking other people if it was true that he had passed away because I just wanted to know,” Abner Sanchez told Fox 5 Atlanta.
“I was in denial because you would never believe somebody that you knew would pass away just like that.”
Eight students and one teacher, identified earlier as David Phenix, were also injured in the massacre.
The nine wounded are expected to survive, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said.
Gray was taken into custody shortly after he allegedly started firing with an AR-15-style weapon and is expected to be charged as an adult.
“And I would just ask all Georgians and all Americans to continue to keep these families, these educators and these students in your thoughts and prayers,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Wednesday night.
“And we will provide every state resource that is needed from here until they’re not. To support this community and support this team behind me.”
Police said they were reviewing troves of evidence as they searched for a motive behind the bloodshed.
But Gray was on the FBI’s radar for more than a year before the shooting, the feds revealed.
The bureau received several tips about threats to commit a school shooting in May 2023 that led the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office to interview the boy and his father.
At the time, authorities said they didn’t have probable cause to make an arrest or take further action.
