Apalachee High School shooting victims: Teens, coach, teacher killed on ‘terrible day of evil’

The four people killed in a Georgia school shooting have been identified.

Christian Angulo, one of the four victims of Wednesday’s mass shooting at Apalachee High School, was remembered by his family as “very sweet and so caring.”

The 14-year-old was identified late Wednesday by the GBI as one of two students who died in the shooting near Winder in Barrow County. Two teachers also were killed and nine other people were also wounded.

A suspect, 14-year-old Colt Gray, is in custody.

A GoFundMe campaign set up by Angulo’s sister, Lisette Angulo, described Christian’s death as “so sudden and unexpected.”

“Unfortunately my baby brother was one of the victims of the school shooting at Apalachee High School. He was only 14 years old. He was a very good kid and very sweet and so caring. He was so loved by many,” she wrote on the site. “He really didn’t deserve this.”

The donations will go toward paying for funeral expenses, she said.

Mason Schermerhorn, 14, who is autistic, was also killed, his mother confirmed to Channel 2 Action News. Family members had circulated the 14-year-old’s photo on social media after they couldn’t reach him after the shooting.

Football assistant coach Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall was one of four killed in a shooting Wednesday at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed.

Aspinwall, 39, was hired as Apalachee’s defensive coordinator prior to the 2023 season and taught math, according to the school’s directory. A Rome native, Aspinwall previously coached at Mountain View High School in Lawrenceville and at Dunwoody High School.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of former Mountain View High School teacher and coach Ricky Aspinwall, who lost his life at Apalachee High School today,” Mountain View HS Athletics posted on Facebook. “Mountain View extends its deepest condolences to the entire Apalachee High School community. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all during this tragic time.”

A GoFundMe was created for Aspinwall’s wife, Shayna, and their two daughters.

Christina Irimie, also a math teacher according to the school’s website, was also killed.

“Students described the 53-year-old teacher as patient and caring,” Fox 5 Atlanta reported.

On Wednesday evening, hundreds gathered in Jug Tavern Park in downtown Winder for a vigil. Volunteers handed out candles and also water, pizza and tissues. Some knelt as a Methodist minister led the crowd in prayer after a Barrow County commissioner read a Jewish prayer of mourning.

Rev. Geoffrey Murphy from Winder First United Methodist Church prayed for those impacted by the shooting and the shooter himself. He explained that four families already know what they will mourn, but that nine others remain anxious, unknowing of what the future may bring.

“Today has been a terrible day of evil, a day where evil has reared its head and brought casualty into our world,” he prayed. “And so let us pray, the prayer that good through comfort and mercy might find its way into the lives of all who have been affected and impacted today.”

Some were clad in athletic gear from Apalachee’s crosstown rival, Winder-Barrow High School. At the end of the vigil, someone released balloons in Apalachee’s blue, gold and white.

Sophomore Shantal Sanvee, who was in a classroom near the gunshots, said she saw “a whole lot of blood. And it was just, it was just horrible.”

“I don’t think I want to be here for like a long time now,” Sanvee said.

The Associated Press and AL.com contributed to this report.