A math teacher is being hailed a hero after she covered windows and refused to open the door of her classroom during the Florida school shooting.
Shanthi Viswanathan, known simply as ‘Mrs. V’ to her students, saved multiple lives when she instructed students in her class at Marjory Stoneham Douglas Hiogh School in Parkland, Florida not to leave the room after the fire alarm sounded — the second to sound that day, the Daily Mail reports.
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Suspecting that something was wrong, Viswanathan instructed her students to remain in the classroom, covered the windows with paper so nobody could look in, and to crouched in the corner of the room. Her actions saved the lives of those in the room.
“She was quick on her feet. She used her knowledge. She saved a lot of kids,” said Dawn Jarboe, the mother of a student in Viswanathan’s classroom.
Even as SWAT team members began entering the school and escorting students and staff out, Viswanathan refused to open the door, fearing that it may be the gunman attempting to trick her and gain access into the room.
“‘She said, “Knock it down or open it with a key. I’m not opening the door,” Jarboe explained.
SWAT teams had to break the window and unlock the door themselves. All students in Viswanathan’s room were safe.
Viswanathan’s tale of heroism is just one of many to have emerged in the wake of the deadly shooting that claimed 17 lives and injured 14 after suspected gunman Nikolas Cruz opened fire with an AR-15.
Teacher Melissa Falkowski hid 19 of her students in a small closet to stay out of sight. Aaron Feis, a football coach at the high school, has also been hailed a hero after using his body to shield students from gunfire. Feis lost his life in the shooting.
Cruz, a former student who had been expelled last spring, was arrested within two hours of the shooting. He has since been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.
