Colt Gray is expected to be charged with murder as an adult for the four killings.
Four people were killed and nine others were injured in a devastating shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia, Wednesday morning.
The suspect – identified by authorities as 14-year-old student Colt Gray – surrendered at the scene and is expected to be charged as an adult with the murder.
The victims include a popular football coach and a “caring” teen known for his sense of humor.Richard Aspinwall
Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall, 39, taught math and was also an assistant football coach for the Apalachee Wildcats, FOX5 Atlanta reported. He was allegedly gunned down while protecting his students.
Aspinwall was hired as the team’s defensive coordinator just last year, the outlet said.
“It’s just so hard to think that somebody that you spent so much time with, because this is my second year with coach, but spending so much time, like family basically,” Apalachee sophomore Isaiah Hooks said of the crushing loss.
Another Apalachee sophomore, Ariel Bowling, told TODAY that Aspinwall was the “most kindest soul ever.”
“I would just want people to know that he was a really kind-hearted man, and he would, really push you and he was just really hard-working,” she said.
Aspinwall was originally from Rome, Ga., and attended both the University of West Georgia and Kennesaw State University, according to his Facebook page.
He left behind a wife and two young daughters.
“He was a great dad, man, and a great father,” head football coach Mick Hancock told USA Today of his late colleague.
“He loved his two girls and he loved his wife. He did happen to love the game of football and he was well respected around this area.”
Aspinwall was one of Hancock’s first recruits when he took over the Wildcats last season.
He previously worked at Mountain View High School in Lawrenceville, and at Dunwoody High School in Dekalb County.
