The Shooting of Mason Schermerhorn at Apalachee High School: A 14-year-old Student is Charged with a Shot and Two Other Students
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has charged a 14-year-old student with four counts of felony murder in the killing of four people and wounding of nine others at Apalachee High School.
The authorities identified the dead students as two 14-year-olds, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo. The educators killed were identified as Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie, officials said. Spellings of 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 recovering right now are heroes in my book.”
Mason had just started high school last month. Photos of him show a smiling young man wearing glasses. On a fundraising page he is remembered as a teenager who was funny and liked to tell jokes.
“He really enjoyed life,” said Doug Kilburn, 40, a friend who has known Schermerhorn’s mother for a decade. He had an optimistic attitude about everything.
When Mr. Briscoe learned about the shooting at the high school in the afternoon, he called Schermerhorn’s mother to ask if everything was OK. She said that Mason was gone.
The gunman — who the authorities identified as a 14-year-old student at the school — will be charged with murder, officials said. The students barricaded themselves in the classrooms as they heard gunfire.
The golf coach and a math special education teacher were 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.
Irimie’s listing on Apalachee High School’s website is all that public information is available about her.
Remembering Mike Aspinwall: The Way Your Mom Walked. His Legacy will Always Live on, and He Will Always Love You Whether You Play Football or Football
“Family members described Mason as someone who was always positive and always looked at the bright side of things. One of his favorite hobbies was playing video games on his PS5 and VR headset,” according to Atlanta TV station Fox 5.
She said that while donations would help with the expenses related to his funeral, they also would appreciate any prayers at this time.
Aspinwall was a math teacher who also coached football at Apalachee. He and Shayna taught at Mountain View High School. The couple have two young daughters.
Aspinwall’s friends and colleagues are mourning a well-liked and respected coach who specialized in defense. The former players describe him as a role model who took an interest in their futures.
He thought 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, one of his former players at Mountain View, told the Gwinnett Daily Post. “His love was genuine, and his heart was pure. His legacy will forever live on through those he touched. Coach A will forever be known as a hero.”
The FBI Investigated a Teen Shooting at a Gainesville High School with a Lanyard ID and a Photo of a Gun
The company in Atlanta makes an ID that can be worn on a lanyard. The button on the ID allows staff to quickly alert the school, other staff, and law enforcement if there is a health or safety issue at the school.
“It alerts us that there’s an active situation at a school. That was pressed. Smith told reporters at a news conference that they had it for about a week.
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 agency confirmed that the teenager was the one who was taken into custody after Wednesday’s 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 the threats online,” the FBI said.
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.
A court appearance by the suspect is scheduled for Friday at 8:30 a.m., but he is currently being held at the Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center. GBI Director Chris Hosey told reporters Wednesday that officials intend to try the alleged shooter as an adult.
The integrity of the case is paramount, as the agency wrote on X.