Originally Published: 05 SEP 24 14:10 ET
Updated: 06 SEP 24 10:33 ET
By Dakin Andone and Alaa Elassar, CNN
(CNN) — Cristina Irimie loved teaching math, laughing and sharing cheesy jokes with her students and friends, who remember her for her infectious joy and passion.
Irimie, 53, was among the four people killed – including two students and another teacher – during a mass shooting Wednesday that has left the community of Apalachee High School and Winder, Georgia, in mourning – the latest tragedy in a nation where gun violence persists seemingly unabated.
“We are frustrated that she faced the evil on the front lines and basically gave her life being there, facing the wrath of a person that – for I don’t know what reason – did this thing,” Father Nicolae Clempus, a pastor at one of the Romanian churches Irimie attended, told CNN on Thursday. “It is unfair how things evolved and how it happened, and we are very, very sorry for the way we have to say goodbye.”
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation identified the others killed as Richard Aspinwall, 39; and Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14. Of those taken to hospitals with injuries, eight were students and one was a teacher.
Katie Adams Seagraves, Aspinwall’s cousin, remembered him as a “great father” who “loved his job,” she shared in a message on Facebook.
“I’m so mad and sad that he was taken away for no reason and his sweet girls and wife no longer have him. My heart breaks so bad. This one hurts,” Seagraves wrote.
Apalachee High School teacher Stephen Kreyenbuhl shared with CNN’s Sara Sidner how “tough” it is losing two of his peers.
“They made a difference,” he said of Aspinwall and Irimie. “They were there for their students each and every day, and it’s going to be very, very hard and difficult to move forward from that.”
Here’s what we know about the victims.
Cristina Irimie
Irimie was an Apalachee High School math teacher, the school’s website shows.
The beloved teacher was having a late birthday celebration with her students the day she was shot and killed, according to a family friend.
“She decided to bake a cake and bring pizza to her class the day she died so she could celebrate her birthday with her kids,” Corneliu Caprar, a friend of Irimie and her husband, told CNN.
Irimie was dedicated to her students and treated them like her own, he said.
“Cristina and her husband were not able to have any biological children of their own, so she decided to turn around and love her students as her own,” Caprar said.
One student, Isaac Sanguma, told CBS Mornings on Thursday he struggled with math. But Irimie was a “real nice” teacher – she liked to tell “corny jokes,” he said. She never made him feel less than.
“She never made me feel dumb,” he said. “You could get a question wrong on the board, and she’s not going to make you feel dumb. She will make you feel welcome.”
Irimie was “always laughing” and very active in the local Romanian community, Clempus told CNN. Clempus is the pastor at St. Mary’s Romanian Orthodox Church in Dacula, Georgia, and met Irimie when he came to the United States in 2001.
“[She] was very dedicated to education … and to her students. She loved math a lot and she loved to teach people math,” Clempus said, adding it was one of her passions.
Irimie was a devout Christian and part of a local dance group when they met, Clempus said, and she later taught dance to children.
Irimie, a traditional Romanian folk dancer, loved dancing with her husband, Caprar said.
“She was always very happy and joyful. It was a pleasure standing close to her,” Clempus said, adding that Irimie’s entire family, except her husband, lives in Romania. “She was always joking, always having a joke about something and everybody was laughing around her.”
Her husband is now “at the lowest point in his life and cannot bring himself to understand why any of this happened to his love,” Caprar said.
“Last night, he had to call her brother, who still lives in Romania, and inform him that his sister had died,” Caprar added.
“We are very sorry that we lost a good soul,” Clempus added. “She is going to be an example, and for our community she is a hero.”
Richard Aspinwall
Aspinwall, a math teacher, was described as sweet and kind by sophomore Ariel Bowling, who was in Aspinwall’s geometry class her freshman year.
“He would always push his students to make sure they are doing well in his class,” Bowling told CNN, tearing up as she recalled the educator. “He was just really sweet.”
Michael Gordon, another student, echoed that, telling CNN, “He was a good guy … I had him – I’m in tenth grade – so I had him for a whole year, and he taught me a lot.”
Aspinwall was also an assistant football coach, serving as defensive coordinator for the Apalachee Wildcats football team.
“As our community, school, and football program begins the mourning process we are so grateful for the outpouring of support,” the Apalachee football program said in a message on X Thursday morning. “To our beloved defensive coordinator Ricky Aspinwall, we will carry you heavy in our hearts. We love you Coach A!!!”
Before teaching and coaching at Apalachee High School, Aspinwall taught and coached at Mountain View High School, which is almost 20 miles west of Winder, his former employer said on social media.
“Coach Aspinwall was a leader of men, and a man you want to coach your kid. We love Coach A, and are praying for his wife Shayna and his girls at this time,” the high school football team posted on X.
Jason Turner coached alongside Aspinwall, known by his students and peers as Coach A, at Mountain View High School for several years.
“What I do know is that Coach A is a hero. We throw that word around too loosely, don’t we?” Turner said. “But when you look at Coach A, that’s what you’ll see: a hero to his sweet wife, Shayna, and those two precious little girls.”
A GoFundMe started to help Aspinwall’s family has raised more than $200,000, as of Thursday evening.
Mason Schermerhorn
Mason, 14, was remembered by family friends as a “loving soul” and a “creative kid.”
“He was the sweetest most loving soul with the biggest smile and will be missed dearly,” a family friend wrote in a GoFundMe campaign for his family.
Mason was known for his good sense of humor, family friend Rebecca Good told CNN affiliate WXIA.
“Mason was a funny, creative kid who loved to give big hugs,” Good said. “He should have lived a long life of making others smile.”
Christian Angulo
Christian, 14, was described by his older sister as a “very good kid,” who was “very sweet and so caring.”
“He was so loved by many,” Lisette Angulo wrote on a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for Christian’s funeral, which included a photo of the teen with a cake on his 14th birthday. “His loss was so sudden and unexpected.. We are truly heartbroken.. He really didn’t deserve this.”
CNN’s David Williams, Caroll Alvarado, Taylor Galgano, Jillian Sykes, Andy Rose, Sara Smart and Christina Zdanowicz contributed to this report.
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