Hero Jewish Teacher Killed As He Shielded Students In Florida School Shooting
By Dave Goldiner February 15, 2018
Scott Beigel died trying to shield his students from the shooting rampage at a Florida high school.
The Jewish social sciences teacher herded some terrified students into a classroom at Stoneman Douglas High School. He was trying to lock the door when suspected gunman Nikolas Cruz opened fire, killing him on the spot.
“Unfortunately, I had to watch him lying there lifeless in the doorway,” Kelsey Friend told a local TV station.
Image by facebook
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.
She said without Beigel’s actions, the gunman could’ve killed her and others.
“I probably wouldn’t be with my mom … or see my sister again,” Friend said.
Beigel was also a staff member at Camp Starlight, a predominately Jewish summer camp in Starlight, Pennsylvania. In a Facebook post, the camp called him a “beloved friend and hero.”
“Those kids were incredibly lucky to have you, you are a real hero,” Adam Schwartz, a Starlight camper, wrote in a post.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
