With Each School Shooting, Ohio Coach Relives His Experience

In the wake of the Valentine’s Day school shooting in Florida, an Ohio coach finds himself reliving a similar experience from several years ago.

Frank Hall is a coach at Chardon High, which is located around 30 miles outside of Cleveland, Ohio. Six years ago to the month, a student walked into the school with a gun and begin firing at other students and staff.

Hall rushed to stop the shooter, who fired at him but missed before running into a wooded area near the school.

When police apprehended the shooter, he admitted that he ran “because Coach Hall was chasing me,” as reported by Sports Illustrated.

“It’s been six years next week and this is where we’re at?” Hall said to reporters, reflecting on the time that has past. “It’s getting worse instead of getting better. It seems like not a lot of people are putting their head together to try to fix this.”

While he is reluctant to make a definitive statement on the recent shooting in Parkland, Florida, Hall did say, “In the name of Coach Feis and everyone who lost their lives, you have to turn it into a day that [allows you to] celebrate the memories and that you came back. They need to turn this into a day that ultimately saves lives. They can’t let evil win.”

The “Coach Feis” that Hall is speaking of is Aaron Feis, a man hailed as a hero of the tragic Florida shooting because he reportedly shielded students from gunfire and ended up losing his life.

One student reportedly told Fox News, “He sprinted with everything he had towards it to make sure everybody was safe, and I heard that he got in front of a couple people and shielded them, and he actually took the bullets for them.”

Many people have taken to honoring the fallen hero with messages of support and sympathy.

“Some heroes wear Gatorade towels over their shoulders. Aaron Feis sacrificed his body for his students in the Florida school shooting,” wrote one person.

Another user wrote that Feis “is the definition of an American Hero. We need more people in this crazy world like him.”

Following the Florida high school shooting on Feb. 14, authorities eventually released the identity of the shooter as Nikolas Cruz.

Cruz is a former student of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, according to The Miami Herald. According to posts on a since-deleted Instagram purportedly belonging to Cruz, he has a penchant for knives and guns.