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Las Vegas Shooting Victims Include Special Ed Teacher Sandy Casey

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On Monday, a shooter in Las Vegas left more than 500 injured and took the lives of 59 people — including Sandy Casey, a special education teacher from Manhattan Beach, California.

Casey, 35, was at the Jason Aldean concert with her fiancee, Christopher Willemse. The two met at Manhattan Beach Middle School, the school where Casey taught and Willemse was a behavioral therapist.

“We lost a spectacular teacher who devoted her life to helping some of our most needy students,” Casey’s school district’s superintendent, Michael Matthews, said in a statement to BuzzFeed News.

“She advocated for her friends when they didn’t see their own strengths and she never let you feel alone in whatever you were going through, whether overjoyed or deep sadness,” the GoFundMe set up to cover her funeral expenses reads.

“She was just a kind soul and she was full of life and loved to live it,” her fiance told The Washington Post. “She made everybody smile, she was an excellent teacher and loved the kids she taught. Everyone who meets her never forgets her.”

Casey is just one of the victims identified. Others include parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles — dozens of people who meant the world to those they leave behind.

You can learn more about their lives here.

Header image via Facebook.

Originally published: October 3, 2017
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