Hero teacher Scott Beigel protected students in the Florida school shooting

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Scott Beigel Z”L, 35, is believed to have been struck by a bullet after letting students take shelter in his classroom and trying to close the door as suspected shooter Nikolas Cruz walked past. Student Kelsey Friend told CNN ‘I am alive today because of him. Speaking later to CNN, she added: ‘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 Friend said her social science teacher, Scott Beigel, was killed by the shooter while trying to lock the classroom door.

“Unfortunately, I had to watch him lying there lifeless in the doorway,” she told Local 10 News reporter Erica Rakow.

Friend said Beigel was trying to save her and the other students in the classroom when he was gunned down.

“We were all in the classroom with the door wide open,” Friend said.

Friend said she and her friends hid behind Beigel’s desk.

She said the gunman, later identified by authorities as former student Nikolas Cruz, could have come in and shot everyone in the room.

“Thank God that he didn’t because if he did, I probably wouldn’t be with my mom … or see my sister again,” Friend said.

“I am alive today because of him,” Friend said when given the opportunity to address Beigel’s family. “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.”

Beigel’s impact will never be forgotten by those he saved.

“He will be missed by me and multiple friends, his name with me will live on,” Friend said.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

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