Who were the victims of the Georgia high school shooting?

The umpteenth school shooting in the United States claimed four lives on Wednesday at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia. Colt Gray, a quiet 14-year-old boy who had been on the FBI’s radar for more than a year, opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle and killed two students and two teachers at the school. Nine other people required hospital care, although their lives are not in danger. The authorities have identified the victims. They are Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn, both 14, and the math teachers Christina Irimie, 53, and Richard Aspinwall, 39. This is what is known about the four victims.

Christian Angulo

Christian Angulo, 14, had only been at the school for a month, as he was a first-year student. He was of Mexican descent, according to The Latin Times. His sister posted a tribute to him on GoFundMe asking for help to cover the cost of his funeral. “My name is Lisette Angulo. I am Christian Angulo’s oldest sister. Unfortunately my baby brother was one of the victims of the school shooting at Apalachee High School,” she wrote. “He was only 14 years old. He was a very good kid and very sweet and so caring. He was so loved by many. His loss was so sudden and unexpected.. We are truly heartbroken.. He really didn’t deserve this.”

Mason Schermerhorn

Mason Schermerhorn was a cheerful 14-year-old who enjoyed reading, playing video games and visiting Walt Disney World. He had also just started high school. On a fundraising page for his funeral, his sister remembers him as a fun-loving teenager who liked to tell jokes.

One neighbor described how Mason had grown into a high school student from a curious boy of about four who would run into his yard when his parents took him outside, the Associated Press reports. “He’d come over and say, `What are you doing? What are you doing?’ It was so fun to see him like that, as a little kid,” Tommy Pickett said. Mason’s death left Pickett shaken and his daughter, who had seen Mason at the bus stop that morning, in tears.

“I just can’t believe he’s gone like that. Why? Why him?” Pickett told AP. “He always was smiling. He always was funny, you know, he just laughed and stuff. When he talked to you, he smiled and stuff. I mean, why him? What did he do to deserve that?”

Family members described Mason as someone who was always positive and always looked on the bright side of things. One of his favorite hobbies was playing video games on his PS5 and virtual reality headset, according to Atlanta-based Fox 5.

Louis Briscoe told The New York Times that when he heard about the shooting, he called the boy’s mother, a friend and co-worker. She told him, “Mason is gone,” and his heart sank. “Nobody should have to go through this kind of pain,” Briscoe said.

Richard Aspinwall

Aspinwall, 39, was a math teacher and football coach, tasked with coordinating the defensive play. He and his wife, Shayna, had taught together at Mountain View High School. They had two young daughters. “Unbelievably heartbroken over the loss of our dear friend Coach Aspinwall. He was truly as great as they come. Helluva human being. Would do anything for anyone. Amazing husband, father, teacher and coach. I’ll never forget you, brother!,” tweeted Brandon Gill, a football coach at nearby Bufford High School.

“In my case, he believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. He pushed me to have great 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 live on forever through those he touched. Coach A will always be known as a hero.”

Cristina Irimie

Cristina Irimie, 53, was a math teacher at Apalachee High School. Students described her as patient and caring, according to Fox 5 Atlanta. Irimie had recently celebrated her birthday, and she made a cake and brought pizza to class on the day of her death “so she could celebrate with her kids,” Gabrielle Buth said, according to NPR. The radio station notes that Irimie was born in Romania and still has family there, including a brother, who now has to tell his mother, who just had emergency surgery last weekend, that her daughter has died.

“She was so jovial and full of life. She always answered the phone (in Romanian): ‘Hello, my love,’ I can still hear her now: ‘Da Iubita.’ Cristina was a person who made you feel welcome and important and she was so, SO funny. Just full of life,” Buth wrote of her friend in a message to NPR.

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