Coach reflects on legacy of teachers killed in Apalachee High School shooting

BARROW COUNTY, Ga. — Apalachee High School’s head football coach, Mike Hancock, described the two teachers shot and killed Wednesday morning, as heroes.

“He died as a hero, and so did Ms. Irimie,” said Hancock.

He said Cristina Irimie had the true heart of a teacher.

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“She always, you know, would stay after and help if our kids needed tutoring,” said Hancock.

He said Irimie and Richard Aspinwall taught Math at the high school, and Aspinwall was his defensive coordinator for the football team.

“Everybody called him Coach A,” said Hancock.

He said Aspinwall moved to Apalachee High School two years ago. Before that, he worked at Mountain View High School in Gwinnett County.

“There’s a lot of people that respected him and knew what kind of guy he was,” said Hancock.

Mountain View Football wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday, “With deepest sympathy, we share that former MV secondary coach Ricky Aspinwall was tragically lost during the senseless act at a nearby high school today. Coach A was a beloved member of MVHS football and the school’s math department. We pray for Shayna and his girls.”

Friends said Aspinwall’s wife is a teacher as well.

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“He’s got a beautiful wife, Shayna, two beautiful girls, Addie and Emory, and he was a girl dad. He loved being a girl dad,” said Hancock. “They had t-shirts that he wore every week that his wife made, and you could tell they loved him. When he came over, their faces lit up. They loved Dad.”

Coach Hancock said he was helping students and parents reunite on the football field Wednesday after the shooting, and had time to reflect Thursday.

“It’s just a numbing feeling. Time was, time was really a blur,” said Hancock.

He said he never wanted to have to coach a community through something like this, but he’s turning his focus on that.

“Through prayer and through community, I think it’s something we’re going to have to get through together,” said Hancock. “I have peace in knowing with this great community we have, we’ll get through this.”

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