When a gunman opened fire outside Stephanie Reyna’s classroom at Apalachee High School in Georgia, killing math teacher and football coach Richard Aspinwall, she said her classmates jumped into action, shutting and barricading their door.
The chaos began when Reyna, 17, said her class “heard banging on the lockers right outside of the classroom door.”
“My teacher, Coach Aspinwall, he opened the door, and he ran outside to see what’s going on,” she told ABC News.
Teacher Richard Aspinwall of Apalachee High School.
Apalachee High School
“We heard some popping sounds,” Reyna said. “We just stopped, we froze, we didn’t know what was going on. … So we all ran to the back of the classroom. We hid in the corner.”
Reyna said she and her 17 classmates were lying on the ground for several minutes when they heard more popping sounds.
“That’s when we realized that our classroom door was still open,” Reyna said.
Then they saw Aspinwall on the ground, she said.
“He was just there, in the doorway, just laying there,” Reyna said. “He was trying to crawl back to us … we just think he was trying to get to us.”
Mourners pray during a candlelight vigil for the slain students and teachers at Apalachee High School, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga.
Mike Stewart/AP
Reyna said one of her classmates pulled Aspinwall’s body into their classroom and shut the door.
Other classmates started barricading the door with cabinets, desks and chairs, she said.
Once the door was secured, Reyna said she tried to console her classmates.
“We were all scared,” she said. “The best I could do is remain calm and tell everyone it’s going to be OK and that we are going to get through it.”
Reyna said first responders then evacuated the students to another classroom before they joined the rest of the school at the football field.
Students and parents walk off campus at Apalachee High School after a shooting, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga.
Mike Stewart/AP
Aspinwall, fellow teacher Christina Irimie, and two students were killed in Wednesday morning’s shooting in Winder. Nine others were injured.
The 14-year-old suspect, Colt Gray, a student at the school, surrendered at the scene to the school resource officers and was taken into custody, authorities said.
Gray is charged with four counts of felony murder and will be tried as an adult, authorities said. A motive is not known.
