Georgia school shooting victims were two 'sweet' boys and two math teachers

[September 06, 2024]  By Kanishka Singh and Liya Cui
 
(Reuters) - The four people killed in the Georgia school mass shooting on Wednesday included two boys aged 14, remembered as funny, kind and positive, along with two teachers, both of whom taught mathematics and one who was also a football coach. 

A woman holds her hands together in prayer after laying flowers at the site of a makeshift memorial at Apalachee High School the day after a fatal shooting left four dead in Winder, Georgia, U.S. September 5, 2024. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage

Mason Schermerhorn, 14, had started high school last month. He loved playing video games and was "someone who was always positive and always looked at the bright side of things," family members were cited as telling Atlanta TV station Fox 5.

Christian Angulo, 14, was described as "a very good kid and very sweet and so caring" by his sister in a GoFundMe page to pay for his funeral. "We are truly heartbroken," his sister said.

Ricky Aspinwall, 39, worked as a math teacher at Apalachee High School where the shooting occurred. He also coached football.

The school's football program took to social media to say: "To our beloved defensive coordinator Ricky Aspinwall, we will carry you heavy in our hearts. We love you Coach A!!!"

A GoFundMe page set up to benefit his wife and two daughters had received nearly $186,000 in donations as of Thursday afternoon.

"For me specifically, he believed in me when I didn't believe in myself. He pushed me to have high aspirations through the faith he had in me," Marquel Broughton, a former player at nearby Mountain View High School, told the Gwinnett Daily Post. "His love was genuine, and his heart was pure."

Mountain View High School said Aspinwall was its former teacher and coach.

Cristina Irimie, 53, was identified as a math teacher on the website of the Apalachee High School.

A GoFundMe to support her family said she had "dedicated her life to shaping the minds and hearts of students and the community." Her students described her as patient and caring.

"She definitely had a gift to work with young people," a parish priest at a local Romanian Orthodox Church told local media outlet Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Investigators in Georgia were piecing together how a teenager suspected of carrying out the mass shooting at his school obtained the semiautomatic rifle that he used.

The student, identified as 14-year-old Colt Gray, opened fire on Wednesday at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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