Georgia school shooting victim's acquaintance reflects on community's ‘anger’: ‘So many families shattered’
An acquaintance of Georgia school shooting victim Richard Aspinwall has spoken out about how “the ripple effect of tragedies like this is felt by” people.
An acquaintance of Georgia school shooting victim Richard Aspinwall has shared a heartbreaking post about how “the ripple effect of tragedies like this is felt by” hundreds of people.14-year-old student Colt Gray opened fire at Apalachee High School in Winder on September 4, killing two students and two teachers. Nine others were wounded in the attack.
Amanda Partee-Manders revealed in a Facebook post that she and Aspinwall started teaching at Mountain View High School in 2013. Partee-Manderstaught art and coached cross country and track. She revealed that she and Aspinwall “both coached fall sports, and then we coached track together.”
“Ricky was more than just a colleague—he was a vibrant soul, always smiling and leading with positivity and gentleness. He was a husband and daddy. A brother and son. A friend. A coach. A teacher,”Partee-Manders wrote.
“There aren’t really any words that can change what happened. Nothing I say can bring these souls back or ease the pain of those affected. Yesterday turned a lot of people's worlds upside down,” she added.
‘Each loss reverberates through the lives of everyone connected’
Partee-Manders revealed why she is “angry.” “I’m angry because this is our home,” she wrote.
“I’m angry because I was a student at Winder-Barrow High School in 1999, and I vividly remember when Columbine happened. It was tragic, horrific, and utterly unimaginable, even as we experienced it indirectly through the news. This was around the time that Apalachee High School opened its doors. The Class of 2002 was split in the year 2000—half stayed at WBHS, and half ventured across town to the “new high school.” I graduated in 2001. This is our home. These are my people. These are our people. It doesn’t matter that I don’t live in Winder today; it doesn’t change that we are a community, and we are each other’s people,” she added.
Partee-Manders revealed that the Sandy Hook massacre took place in 2012 when she wasstill teaching art and coaching XC at Winder-Barrow, and that is when the “same deep sadness hit again.” The Parkland shooting happened when she was teaching and coaching at Cherokee Bluff, she said.
“These are the ones that stand out to me, but there are so many more. Virginia Tech. Parkland. The names of the schools blur together, but the pain remains. I looked at the list of school shootings, and my jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe how long it was. So many schools. So many innocent lives. So many families shattered—many right here, in our own state. So many that I didn’t even know existed. It’s so commonplace that the true extent of the devastation is muffled,”Partee-Manders said.
Partee-Manders went on to say that Aspinwall’s wife Shayna and their two children were in her thoughts. “The ripple effect of tragedies like this is felt by so many. The loss of a teacher and coach like Ricky—or any teacher—creates a void in the hearts of countless students and colleagues. The loss of children is simply beyond words. We lost more than Ricky yesterday—another teacher and two beautiful children didn’t get to walk through their front doors, have dinner with family, sleep in their warm beds, or hug their loved ones,” she wrote.
She added, “It’s not just the immediate families who are devastated; it’s the entire community, a network of people left heartbroken and angry. Each loss reverberates through the lives of everyone connected, spreading grief and pain in ways we can’t fully comprehend. If you’ve been on social media, you’ll see strangers from around the world saying the names of these beautiful souls and of our school and our town. People around the world are mourning with us, and that is powerful. The collective has power beyond what most people dream is possible.”
Gray has been charged withfour counts of murder, but if convicted, he will not face thedeath penalty as he is 18 years of age. Besides Aspinwall, the others who died were math teacherChristina Irimie, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14.