Funerals held for teen boy and math teacher killed in Georgia high school shooting

JEFFERSON, Ga. (AP) — Funeral services for a teenage boy remembered for his endearing smile and a math teacher known for her dedication to students were held Saturday, 10 days after both were killed by a gunman who opened fire at a Georgia high school.

Family, friends and supporters of 14-year-old Mason Schermerhorn and teacher Cristina Irimie, 53, gathered to say farewell at separate afternoon services.

They were among four people killed Sept. 4 at Apalachee High School by a shooter armed with an assault-style rifle. Another teacher and eight other students were injured.

Irimie, who immigrated to the U.S. more than 20 years ago from her home country of Romania, was honored with a Romanian Orthodox service filled with chants and hymns. The ceremony alternated between English and Romanian.

“We gather today to offer prayers for a noble soul,” one of the priests presiding over the service said. “Family members, friends, colleagues, and, in fact, many people throughout this nation and beyond are mourning the loss of a dear wife, daughter, sister, aunt, friend, parish member, colleague, teacher and fellow citizen.”

There also was a large public outpouring at the memorial service for Schermerhorn, which was held at a civic center in Jefferson. The teen's family requested that anyone attending the service wear red, which was his favorite color.

Mason loved playing video games and liked Disney and LEGOs, his obituary said. He also loved spending time with his family.

A neighbor, Tommy Pickett, recalled watching him grow over the past decade from an inquisitive young boy to a teenager who always seemed to be smiling and laughing.

Irimie was known for teaching children dance in addition to algebra and stayed active in metro Atlanta's Romanian expat community. Her service was held at a funeral home in Buford. Afterward, a memorial meal was planned at Saints Constantine and Helen Romanian Orthodox Church.

The funerals mark another opportunity for students and faculty from the high school of 1,900 students to share their grief. Barrow County's other schools reopened last week. But no date has been set for students to return to Apalachee High School.

A private funeral was held last weekend for Richard Aspinwall, a 39-year-old math teacher and defensive coordinator of the school's football team. Aspinwall was killed in the attack alongside Schermerhorn, Irimie and 14-year-old student Christian Angulo.

Angulo's family has scheduled his funeral service at a church for Friday.

Authorities have charged a 14-year-old student, Colt Gray, with murder in the high school killings. His father also has been charged with second-degree murder for furnishing his son with a weapon used to kill children.

Authorities say the teen surrendered to school resource officers who confronted him roughly three minutes after the first shots were fired. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says the teenager rode the bus to school with the semiautomatic rifle concealed in his backpack.

Mourners follow the casket of Ana Cristina Irimie, a math teacher killed during a shooting at Apalachee High School, to the burial site after her funeral service at Hamilton Mill Memorial Chapel and Gardens in Buford, Ga., on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

Mourners grieve for Ana Cristina Irimie, a math teacher killed during a shooting at Apalachee High School, during her funeral service at Hamilton Mill Memorial Chapel and Gardens in Buford, Ga., on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

Mourners grieve for Ana Cristina Irimie, a math teacher killed during a shooting at Apalachee High School, during her funeral service at Hamilton Mill Memorial Chapel and Gardens in Buford, Ga., on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

Family members leave after the funeral of Apalachee High School shooting victim Mason Schermerhorn in Jefferson, Ga., on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (Ben Gray/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

People arrive for the funeral of Apalachee High School shooting victim Mason Schermerhorn in Jefferson, Ga., on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (Ben Gray/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

People arrive for the funeral of Apalachee High School shooting victim Mason Schermerhorn in Jefferson, Ga., on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (Ben Gray/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

Dorin Irimie, husband of Ana Cristina Irimie, a math teacher killed during a shooting at Apalachee High School, mourns by her casket at her funeral service at Hamilton Mill Memorial Chapel and Gardens in Buford, Ga., on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

Mourners carry the casket of Ana Cristina Irimie, a math teacher killed during a shooting at Apalachee High School, after her funeral service at Hamilton Mill Memorial Chapel and Gardens in Buford, Ga., on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

A poster with images of shooting victims from left, Cristina Irimie, Mason Schermerhorn, Richard Aspinwall and Christian Angulo is displayed at a memorial outside Apalachee High School, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Charlotte Kramon)

A poster with an image of shooting victim Cristina Irimie is displayed at a memorial outside Apalachee High School, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Charlotte Kramon)

A poster with an image of shooting victim Mason Schermerhorn is displayed at a memorial outside Apalachee High School, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Charlotte Kramon)

This combo of images show shooting victims, from left, Christian Angulo, Mason Schermerhorn, Cristina Irimie and Richard Aspinwall, displayed at a memorial outside Apalachee High School, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Charlotte Kramon)

BEIRUT (AP) — Pagers used by hundreds of members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded near-simultaneously Tuesday in Lebanon and Syria, killing at least nine people, including an 8-year-old girl, and wounding several thousand, officials said. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for what appeared to be a sophisticated remote attack.

An American official said Israel briefed the United States on Tuesday after the conclusion of the operation, in which small amounts of explosive secreted in the pagers were detonated. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the information publicly.

The Israeli military declined to comment.

Among those wounded was Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon. The mysterious explosions came amid rising tensions between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, which have exchanged fire across the Israel-Lebanon border since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that sparked the war in Gaza.

The pagers that blew up were apparently acquired by Hezbollah after the group’s leader ordered members in February to stop using cellphones, warning they could be tracked by Israeli intelligence. A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press the pagers were a new brand, but declined to say how long they had been in use.

Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said Wednesday that it authorized its brand on the AR-924 pagers used by the Hezbollah militant group, but the devices were produced and sold by a company called BAC.

At about 3:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday, as people shopped for groceries, sat in cafes or drove cars and motorcycles in the afternoon traffic, the pagers in their hands or pockets started heating up and then exploding — leaving blood-splattered scenes and panicking bystanders.

It appeared that many of those hit were members of Hezbollah, but it was not immediately clear if non-Hezbollah members also carried any of the exploding pagers.

The blasts were mainly in areas where the group has a strong presence, particularly a southern Beirut suburb and in the Beqaa region of eastern Lebanon, as well as in Damascus, according to Lebanese security officials and a Hezbollah official. The Hezbollah official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

The explosions came hours after Israel’s internal security agency said it had foiled an attempt by Hezbollah to kill a former senior Israeli security official using a planted explosive device that could be remotely detonated.

The United States “was not aware of this incident in advance” and was not involved, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said. “At this point, we’re gathering information."

Experts said the pager explosions pointed to a long-planned operation, possibly carried out by infiltrating the supply chain and rigging the devices with explosives before they were delivered to Lebanon.

Whatever the means, it targeted an extraordinary breadth of people with hundreds of small explosions — wherever the pager carrier happened to be — that left some maimed.

One online video showed a man picking through produce at a grocery store when the bag he was carrying at his hip explodes, sending him sprawling to the ground and bystanders running.

At overwhelmed hospitals, wounded were rushed in on stretchers, some with missing hands, faces partly blown away or gaping holes at their hips and legs, according to AP photographers. On a main road in central Beirut, a car door was splattered with blood and the windshield cracked.

Lebanon Health Minister Firas Abiad told Qatar's Al Jazeera network at least nine people were killed, including an 8-year-old girl, and some 2,750 were wounded — 200 of them critically — by the explosions. Most had injuries in the face, hand, or around the abdomen.

It appeared eight of the dead belonged to Hezbollah. The group issued a statement confirming at least two members were killed in the pager bombings. One of them was the son of a Hezbollah member in Parliament, according to the Hezbollah official who spoke anonymously. The group later issued announcements that six other members were killed Tuesday, though it did not specify how.

“We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression that also targeted civilians,” Hezbollah said, adding that Israel will “for sure get its just punishment.”

Iranian state-run IRNA news agency said that the country’s ambassador, Mojtaba Amani, was superficially wounded by an exploding pager and was being treated at a hospital.

Previously, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had warned the group’s members not to carry cellphones, saying they could be used by Israel to track and target them.

Sean Moorhouse, a former British Army officer and explosive ordnance disposal expert, said videos of the blasts suggested a small explosive charge — as small as a pencil eraser — had been placed into the devices. They would have had to have been rigged prior to delivery, very likely by Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, he said.

Elijah J. Magnier, a Brussels-based senior political risk analyst, said he spoke with Hezbollah members who had examined pagers that failed to explode. What triggered the blasts, he said, appeared to be an error message sent to all the devices that caused them to vibrate, forcing the user to click on the buttons to stop the vibration. The combination detonated a small amount of explosives hidden inside and ensured that the user was present when the blast went off, he said.

Israel has a long history of carrying out deadly operations well beyond its borders. This year, separate Israeli airstrikes in Beirut killed senior Hamas official Saleh Arouri and a top Hezbollah commander. A mysterious explosion in Iran, also blamed on Israel, killed Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ supreme leader.

Israel has killed Hamas militants in the past with booby-trapped cellphones and it’s widely believed to have been behind the Stuxnet computer virus attack on Iran’s nuclear program in 2010.

The pager bombings are likely to stoke Hezbollah's worries about vulnerabilities in security and communications as Israeli officials are threaten to escalate their monthslong conflict. The near-daily exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah have killed hundreds in Lebanon and several dozen in Israel, and have displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the border.

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon, deplored the attack and warned that it marks “an extremely concerning escalation in what is an already unacceptably volatile context.”

On Tuesday, Israel said that halting Hezbollah’s attacks in the north to allow residents to return to their homes is now an official war goal. Israeli Defense Minister Gallant said the focus of the conflict is shifting from Gaza to Israel’s north and that time is running out for a diplomatic solution with Hezbollah.

This story has been updated to correct the name of the Hezbollah lawmaker’s son killed by a pager blast.

Associated Press writers Hussein Malla, Hassan Ammar, Fadi Tawil and Sarah El Deeb in Beirut; Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran; Michael Biesecker in Washington; Josef Federman in Jerusalem; Zeke Miller in Washington; and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

A Lebanese Red Cross volunteer collects blood donations for those who were injured by their exploded handheld pagers, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, at a Red Cross center in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

People donate blood for those who were injured by their exploded handheld pagers, at a Red Cross center, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Lebanese soldiers stand guard at a street that leads to the American University hospital where they bring wounded people whose handheld pager exploded, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

An ambulance carrying wounded people whose handheld pager exploded arrives outside at the American University hospital, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Civil Defense first-responders carry a man who was wounded after his handheld pager exploded, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024.(AP Photo)

A police officer inspects a car in which a hand-held pager exploded, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

An ambulance carries wounded people whose handheld pager exploded, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Police officers inspect a car inside of which a hand-held pager exploded, Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Police officers inspect a car inside of which a hand-held pager exploded, Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Police officers inspect a car inside of which a hand-held pager exploded, Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A Civil Defense first-responder carries a wounded man whose handheld pager exploded at al-Zahraa hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Civil Defense first-responders carry a wounded man whose handheld pager exploded at al-Zahraa hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)