The 2 students and 2 teachers were killed in Georgia
Mason Schermerhorn and David Phenix: Two high school students were killed in the first day of school life, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation
The violence came just after the school had completed its first month of the new school year. Two students, a teacher and two family members were identified as dead by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
The students who died were identified as 14-year-olds, Mason and Christian. The educators killed were identified as Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie, officials said. The names were not confirmed by the authorities.
“Those that are deceased are heroes in my book,” said Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Those that are in the hospital are my heroes right now.
Mason Schermerhorn was described by friends of his family as a lighthearted teenager who liked spending time with his family, reading, telling jokes, playing video games and visiting Walt Disney World. He joined the school recently.
“He really enjoyed life,” said Doug Kilburn, 40, a friend who has known Schermerhorn’s mother for a decade. “He always had an upbeat attitude about everything.”
When Mr. Briscoe heard about the high school shooting, he called the mother to see if everything was okay. She told him: “Mason’s gone.”
The gunman — who the authorities identified as a 14-year-old student at the school — will be charged with murder, officials said. Students were barricaded in classrooms while they heard gunfire.
David Phenix, a math special education teacher and the school’s golf coach, was injured during the shooting. Katie Phenix, his daughter, said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that he was shot in the foot and hip, shattering his hip bone.
There is little public information available about Irimie, at this time, other than her listing as a math teacher on the Apalachee High School website.
Remembering Michael A. Aspinwall, a math teacher and teacher at Apalachee High School, where he and Shayna attended mountain view high school
“Family members described Mason as someone who was always positive and always looked at the bright side of things. Atlanta TV station Fox 5 reported that he preferred playing video games on the PS5 and Virtual Reality headset.
She said that while donations would assist in paying for his funeral expenses, they also would appreciate any prayers at this time.
A teacher and football coach at Apalachee, Aspinwall was a math teacher. He and Shayna taught together at Mountain View High School. The couple have young girls of their own.
Aspinwall’s friends and colleagues are mourning a well-liked coach who specialized in defense. His former players believe that he was a role model who had an interest in their futures.
He believed in me even though I didn’t believe in myself. He pushed me to have high aspirations through the faith he had in me,” Marquel Broughton, one of his former players at Mountain View, told the Gwinnett Daily Post. His love was genuine and he had a pure heart. His legacy will forever live on through those he touched. Coach A will forever be known as a hero.
The Atlanta-based shooting suspect’s online threats: a response to an e-mail from the father of a school shooting victim
The Atlanta-based company produces a credit card-sized ID that can be worn on a lanyard. The button on the ID allows staff to alert the school and other staff about health or safety issues that occur on the campus.
“It alerts us that there’s an active situation at a school. That was pressed. We’ve had that for about a week now,” Smith told reporters at a news conference Wednesday evening.
The FBI said local schools were alerted to continue monitoring the subject, but that there were no strong grounds for an arrest or additional law enforcement action. The teenager was the person who was taken into custody after the shooting.
“The father stated he had hunting guns in the house, but the subject did not have unsupervised access to them. The subject denied making any online threats.
In a post on X, the FBI said that in May 2023 it received “several anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and time,” and that the threats contained photos of guns.
The suspect is in the regional youth jail where his court appearance will be online on Friday at 9:00 a.m. GBI Director Chris Hosey told reporters Wednesday that officials intend to try the alleged shooter as an adult.
“This is day 2 of a very complex investigation & the integrity of the case is paramount,” the agency wrote on X. “We ask for the public’s patience as we work to ensure a successful prosecution & justice for the victims.”