- Ricky Aspinwall is survived by his wife Shayna and their two young daughters
A high school football team has paid tribute to their heroic former coach, who was killed while trying to lead his students to safety after a teenage shooting at a Georgia school.
“It is with deepest sympathy that former MV coach Ricky Aspinwall tragically lost his life today in a senseless act at a nearby high school,” the Mountain View Bears football team wrote in a post on X.
“Coach A was a beloved member of MVHS football and the school’s math department. We are praying for Shayna and his girls,” the post continued.
More tributes to the father of two poured in on social media.
X user Brandon Gill wrote: ‘Can’t believe how sad we are for the loss of our dear friend.
A high school football team has paid tribute to their former coach Ricky Aspinwall who was killed in a deadly shooting at a Georgia school yesterday
Ricky Aspinwall with his wife and two young daughters
Teacher Richard Aspinwall was named as one of the four victims of the shooting
“He was as great as they come. A great person. Would do anything for anyone. Great husband, father, teacher and coach.”
A GoFundMe was established to support Aspinwall’s wife Shayna and their two young daughters.
“We are all in shock at the news that Ricky Aspinwall lost his life protecting his students. Please consider donating to help Shayna Aspinwall with her expenses and to ensure that her two precious babies are cared for,” the fundraiser said.
$60,480 was raised, a fraction of the goal of $85,000.
Math teacher and football coach Ricky Aspinwall, 39, is one of four people killed yesterday after alleged 14-year-old gunman Colt Gray, who was armed with an assault rifle, opened fire at Apalachee High.
Mason Schermerhorn, 14, an autistic student at Apalachee High School, was the first victim to be identified. He was one of four people killed in the mass shooting
Teacher Christina Irimie was also identified as a victim
Student Christian Angulo, 14, also lost his life in the senseless shooting
Two 14-year-old students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, and teacher Christina Irmie, 53, were also killed.
Schermerhorn’s family said he was an autistic student at the school. A loved one said after his death that it’s “sad that we can’t even send our babies to school and have them be safe.”
Nine others were injured in the bloody attack.
Footage showed students streaming onto campus as terrified parents rushed to find their children. One mother described the scene outside the school as sheer “chaos.”
It was the latest in a string of dozens of school shootings in the US in recent years, including deadly shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, Parkland, Florida and Uvalde, Texas.
Student Gretchen Gierlach, 18, holds up banners after a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder
Relatives pray during a candlelight vigil for the slain students and teachers of Apalachee High School
Gray, a junior at the school, immediately surrendered when confronted by law enforcement and will be charged with murder and tried as an adult.
He is currently being held at the Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center.
The student, who was described as a “quiet” teenager who frequently skipped school, was questioned by the FBI a year ago following “multiple anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting at an unknown location and time.”
Gray denied making online threats, and police warned local schools to monitor the teen, but the FBI said there were no grounds for an arrest or additional action.
