‘I am alive today because of him’: Student sobs as she tells how hero geography teacher died shielding her and a group of students from bullets at Florida high school massacre

Thursday, February 15, 2018
By Paul Martin

Student Kelsey Friend paid tribute to the teacher Scott Beigel
He allowed her and a group of fleeing students into his classroom on Wednesday
As he was locking the door after letting them in, he was shot by Nikolas Cruz
Kelsey said the gunman did not know they were all hiding inside because the teacher’s body was blocking the doorway
She and other students cowered beside and behind his desk, next to his dead body
Cruz, 19, was a former student of the school who was expelled last year
Students have said he was ‘obsessed’ with weapons and that they predicted he would carry out a mass attack

By JENNIFER SMITH
DAILYMAIL.COM
15 February 2018

A teenage girl who survived the massacre at her Florida high school on Wednesday spoke through tears to describe the hero teacher who saved her life this morning.

Kelsey Friend broke down on Thursday morning as she paid tribute to the 35-year-old geography teacher Scott Beigel.

‘I am alive today because of him,’ Kelsey told GMA.

She was part of a group of students who were fleeing gunman Nikolas Cruz who went on a bloody rampage through Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, killing at least 17 and injuring many more.

He is one of three heroic teachers who died protecting youngsters. Football coaches Aaron Feis died in a similar way, shielding a group of kids from Cruz, and athletic director Chris Hixon was also murdered.

Teenager Jaime Guttenberg was the first student to be named as a victim. Many are yet to be formally identified.

Beigel saw the group of students fleeing and let them into his classroom to take refuge.

As they cowered by his desk, Cruz walked past and, before the teacher could lock the door again, he was shot dead.

‘He unlocked the door and let us in. I thought he was behind me but he wasn’t. When he opened the door, he had to relock it so that we could stay safe but he didn’t get the chance,’ Kelsey sobbed during a later appearance on CNN.

In a heartbreaking message to his family, she turned to the camera and said: ‘I am alive today because of him. Thank you for bringing and having this amazing person in life and giving him the power to be stronger than I could have ever been.

‘He will be missed by me and multiple friends, his name with me will live on.’

She added that it was only his first year teaching at the school.

She said she did not know the man was dead until she realized he was laying motionless.

‘Someone said, “Mr. Beigel is not moving. He is laying in the doorway, but he is not moving.'”

Many of the students have revealed that they thought the shooting was a drill until they started seeing victims.

The Rest…HERE

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