This week's school shooting in Georgia hit close to home for one of our producers at NBC10 Boston.
Two students and two teachers were killed in the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder. One of the victims was math teacher Richard Aspinwall, who doubled as a defensive football coach.
"I never thought that I would know one of the victims, that just never felt real, and it hit really, really close to home when I found out it was him," said NBC10 Boston producer Zach Miles. "I just couldn't stop shaking."
Miles is a Georgia native who went to Mountain View High School in Lawrenceville, just a few towns over from Winder.
"This was right in my backyard of where I grew up," Miles said. "Literally 15 minutes down the road from my hometown."
Although never Miles' teacher or coach, Aspinwall, 39, left a lasting impression on Miles and his classmates before switching schools.
"Him helping out with, like, the student leadership organizations I was part of, the clubs like that, like, he was always someone that was willing to help out," recalled Miles.
Miles' college friend Alex English ended up working with Aspinwall, known as "Coach A," at Apalachee High School. English described to him what happened that horrible day.
"He was on the same hall where the shooting went down, and Coach Aspinwall was in the classroom getting targeted, he was teaching math at the time, and from what I've heard, he stepped in front of the kids to save the kids' lives," Miles said. "Truly died as a hero."
Aspinwall is survived by his wife and two kids. Miles is remembering him as someone who always believed in his students.
"The job wasn't about him. It wasn't about a paycheck, it wasn't about, you know, getting your summers off as a teacher, it wasn't about any of that," said Miles. "He just really believed in and inspired all of these kids. Like, he was just a really good guy."
