A football coach has reportedly died after shielding a student at the deadly Florida high school shooting
A football coach at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was shot while shielding a student during a mass shooting.
A gunman, allegedly 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, killed at last 17 people.
Coach Aaron Feis reportedly leapt in front of a student and pushed her out of the line of fire.
Local media has reported that he is one of the 17 confirmed deaths.
A football coach has reportedly died after shielding a student from gun shots at the deadly Florida high school shooting that has killed at least 17.
Aaron Feis, an assistant football coach at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, reportedly leapt in front of a student to protect her from Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old shooter.
Feis jumped between a student and the shooter to push her out through a door and out of harm's way, according to fellow coach Willis May, who was cited by Florida newspaper the Sun Sentinel.
Amid massacre, a story of courage: Reports say football coach stepped in front of bullets https://t.co/y966OOZgAepic.twitter.com/Vi6ATsMrX3
— Miami Herald Sports (@HeraldSports) February 15, 2018
On top of coaching football, Feis also worked as a security guard at Douglas High, according to its website.
He heard of the shooting on the school's walkie talkie system, May said.
"I heard heard Aaron say, 'No, that is not firecrackers,'" said May, who also has a walkie talkie. "That's the last I heard of him."
In an Instagram post, former student Angelica Losada described Feis as "a friend to all students that know him," and "always so nice to me when I went to school there."
According to the Sun Sentinel, Feis graduated from Douglas High in 1999, and returned to be a coach in 2002.
Broward Sheriff Scott Israel said on Wednesday night that "a beloved football coach is dead," but did not mentioned Feis by name.
According to the Sun Sentinel, Feis' family was notified that he had died in the early hours of Thursday morning.
