Apalachee High teacher injured in shooting released from hospital

WINDER, Ga. (WANF/Gray News) - A Georgia high school teacher has been released from the hospital more than a week after he was injured in a deadly school shooting.

David Phenix was one of nine injured in the Apalachee High School shooting on Sept. 4. Phenix had been in the intensive care unit since the shooting and had surgery on his hip and ankle.

The shooting claimed the lives of football coach Richard Aspinwall, math teacher Cristina Irimie, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo.

Phenix posted an emotional message Sunday night on his Facebook page, saying his mental road back to some degree of normalcy will be just as challenging as the physical.

“From anger to mourning to sadness to gratefulness to even feeling blessed to be able to sit here and write this post, processing the reasons behind September 4th will be a long road which will most likely, never be truly understood,” Phenix wrote in part.

He said he was blessed that the bullet missed vital parts of his body.

“Had things been a quarter inch to the left or right, things could have been vastly different,” he wrote.

Phenix thanked first responders, doctors and nurses, as well as another teacher and students for helping him while he was wounded. He also thanked his family for their continued support in his recovery.

Police said 14-year-old Colt Gray opened fire inside the school. He and his father Colin Gray face charges in connection with the shooting.

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