Online campaigns raise over $350,000 for Apalachee High School victims

ATLANTA — The Georgia and American flags flew at half-staff outside Apalachee High School on Thursday morning, a day after two students and two teachers were gunned down.

Supporters left flowers next to the high school’s welcome sign. And overnight, community members and supporters rushed to donate to the victims’ families.

Nine others were injured in the shooting at the Barrow County high school, about 45 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta. The crime was allegedly carried out by a 14-year-old student who had previously been investigated by local and federal law enforcement for allegedly threatening a shooting at an unspecified time and location.

Late Wednesday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation identified the student victims as Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14. The teachers killed were assistant football coach Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall and Christina Irimie, a math teacher according to the school’s website.

The alleged shooter, Colt Gray, an Apalachee student, was charged with murder and is being held in a regional youth detention center. He is expected to be charged as an adult.

GoFundMe fundraisers were created for the four people killed — Angulo, Aspinwall, Irimie and Schermerhorn — pulling in more than $350,000 as of Thursday afternoon. A separate fund created by the families of previous school shooting victims had raised an additional $10,000.

A friend of the Schermerhorn family created a GoFundMe, and described the teen as “the sweetest, most loving soul with the biggest smile.” In a social media post amid the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Schermerhorn’s family said he had autism and that they had been searching for him as they couldn’t reach him.

“If he is escalated (emotionally), PLEASE use a calm voice with him,” the family wrote in the post. “Let him know his mom is looking for him for reassurance.”

On Thursday, a woman told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution the family did not want to speak with reporters.

In a public Facebook post, Barrow County elementary school autism teacher Lee Griffeth said he got to know the family well.

“Mason’s mom and dad selflessly gave their time and resources to the classroom ...,” Griffeth said. “No one deserves to have this happen to them, and I can’t imagine what this sweet family is going through.”

Christian was remembered by his family as “very sweet and so caring.”

“He was so loved by many,” his oldest sister, Lisette Angulo, wrote on GoFundMe. “His loss was so sudden and unexpected. We are truly heartbroken. He really didn’t deserve this.”

All donations go toward helping the family with funeral expenses, Lisette Angulo wrote.

“We appreciate anything you can give. We also would appreciate any prayers at this time. Thank you,” she wrote.

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 Dunwoody High School.

The GoFundMe created for him will help his wife, Shayna, to “make sure (their) two precious babies are taken care of.”

“We are all in shock over the news that Ricky Aspinwall lost his life protecting his students,” wrote the campaign organizer.

Irimie’s loved ones wrote in a GoFundMe that she “dedicated her life to shaping the minds and hearts of students and the community.”

She didn’t have children of her own but was always surrounded by kids, her friend and pastor, Nicolae Clempus, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“She definitely had a gift to work with young people,” he added.

The separate fundraiser was set up by the “families of over two decades of previous mass shootings from across this country.”

“Our hearts are breaking for the victims and survivors of the mass shooting at Apalachee High School,” the group, Victims First, said in the campaign.

The group previously collected donations for victims of the Uvalde, Texas, shooting, as well as helped coordinate victim funds for the shootings at Oxford High School in Michigan and The Covenant School in Tennessee.

Another fundraiser has been organized by Classroom of Compassion, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that helps communities heal following mass shootings by creating public memorials to honor the lives lost. Volunteers plan to erect four public altars to honor Wednesday’s victims, and donations go toward helping volunteers travel to Georgia.

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