Family, friends mourn autistic teen killed in Georgia school shooting at funeral attended by hundreds

ATLANTA – Hundreds of mourners showed up in red to honor Mason Alexander Schermerhorn at his funeral Saturday. It was the 14-year-old’s favorite color.

They wore red shirts. Red sweaters. Red blouses. Red dresses. Red shoes. Red hats. Even red neckties. One man was dressed in red from head to toe.

At one point, the line to get into the Jefferson Civic Center stretched around the building. Inside, a portrait of Mason in a red shirt and huge bouquets of red roses flanked the stage.

Family and friends remembered that the Apalachee High School freshman loved building things with Legos. A Disney World fan, he loved playing Kingdom Hearts, a video game featuring a young boy’s adventure in Disney and Pixar worlds. As mourners took their seats, music from the video game played softly in the auditorium.

Mason’s father, Sheffron Devon Pollard, was the first from his family to speak. He read a letter to his son in which he apologized to him and told him he loved him.

“I am sorry I wasn’t there to protect you, when you really needed me,” he said. “I am sorry you were taken from us so instantly. But what I am most sorry for is I didn’t get the opportunity to teach you everything that I could: Your first date, your first dance, your first true love.”

Mason’s mother, Breanna Schermerhorn, spoke next. She remembered her son looked after his friends and family. He also had a “superpower,” his mother said, that enabled him to convert his bullies into friends.

“He couldn’t wait to grow up, even though I told him it wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be,” she said. “He was looking forward to one day getting married, buying a house and having kids. Yes, at 12, 13 and 14 he was having these big thoughts about his future. I knew he was going to make a great spouse because he was able to communicate his emotions openly.”

Three other people were killed along with Mason in the Sept. 4 shooting at his high school, including a fellow student, Christian Angulo, 14; math teacher and assistant football coach Richard Aspinwall, 39; and math teacher Cristina Irimie, 53. Irimie’s funeral was also held Saturday.

The alleged gunman, a 14-year-old Apalachee freshman, has been charged with four counts of felony murder. His father, Colin Gray, faces up to 180 years in prison for charges authorities say are “directly connected with the actions of his son” in the massacre.

What happened at Apalachee illuminates a particularly tragic dimension of school shootings in America: The killing of vulnerable people like Mason. His sister and his educators said he was autistic.

Autism, also called autism spectrum disorder, is a developmental disability caused by differences in the brain, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

People with the disorder can experience problems with social interaction and have different ways of learning, moving or paying attention. These characteristics can make their lives particularly challenging.

It’s unknown how many children with autism have been killed in school shootings. But 1 in 36 8-year-olds has the disorder, the CDC said in a 2020 report. Mason’s death also underscores the need for schools to include people with disabilities in emergency preparations, according to advocates. Complicating such situations, people with autism can experience anxiety, stress and more fear than expected. They can also react unusually to certain sounds and wander into danger.

“Chaotic, stressful, high-anxiety situations can, of course, provoke that type of behavior,” said Kristyn Roth, a spokesperson for Autism Society of America, a nonprofit based in Rockville, Maryland. Roth added that autistic people might “seek out something that calms them or that feels like a safer space when in actuality, obviously, that can put them in a whole different kind of danger.”

Roth’s advocacy is personal for her. She has a younger brother with autism.

“I worry about the safety of my loved ones every single day,” she said. “As it relates to my brother with autism, I want to help create a world in which he is included and respected and his safety is a priority.”

Lindsay Naeder, a fellow advocate who has an older brother with autism, offered similar views.

“It completely takes your breath away when you read about these incidents,” said Naeder, vice president for service and supports and community impact at Autism Speaks, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. “This is something that unfortunately our world is faced with going through over and over. And it does make you think, ‘How can you best be prepared?’”

Several mothers with autistic children attended Mason’s funeral. Among them was Donna Snowden, who has a 13-year-old son with autism.

“When I look at Mason’s face, I see my own son in his face,” she said. “I just want to come and be present even though I don’t know the family personally. It could have been any one of us.”