Open Thread: Teacher Put Herself Between ‘Kids and Gunman’s Bullets’

This is an open thread so I’d like to take care of a little business first.

I have had several complaints this week that some of you were getting “stack overflow” error messages. This happened if you were using Internet Explorer and I was able to verify the error myself. The error occurred as the result of upgrading to the latest version of WordPress.

Last night I downgraded back to the previous version so that should eliminate the error message from happening. So going forward you shouldn’t be getting the “stack overflow” error message any longer.

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Also, as far as news on the shooting, I haven’t heard much in the way of new information. The cops believe they have a fair amount of evidence that may point to the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the shooting but that hasn’t been released yet. The did confirm that the shooter forced his way into the school and was not buzzed in by someone. But they wouldn’t say how he forced his way in.

Below is a story from the Daily Mail on a teacher who put herself between the shooter and her students. It also details how the principal and school psychologist were killed.

DAILY MAIL – A young teacher displayed astonishing bravery and sacrificed her life saving as many children in her first grade class as she could after she came face-to-face with gunman Adam Lanza.

Victoria Soto, 27, had worked at Sandy Hook Elementary for five years. Her final moments were spent ushering her students into a closet when Lanza entered her classroom and she tried her best to shield the children from the evil gunman.

Soto was a highly regarded young teacher who was popular with her pupils. One young student, Jacob Riley, told Mailonline that Soto was known for chewing gum in class – something not usually allowed for teachers. He said he had often teased her about her habit and she had playfully teased him back.

‘She took her kids, put them in the closet and by doing so she lost her life protecting those little ones,’ Soto’s cousin, Jim Wiltsie, told ABC News.

‘She was found huddled over her children, her students, doing instinctively what she knew was the right thing. I’m just proud that Vicki had the instincts to protect her kids from harm,’ he continued.

‘It brings peace to know that Vicki was doing what she loved, protecting the children and in our eyes she’s a hero,’ he added.

A deeply distraught 10-year-old boy who is a former student of Miss Soto described her as ‘really nice and funny.’

When Lanza started firing at the school in suburban Newtown, Connecticut, some teachers dove under tables – but Mrs Hochsprung and Mrs Sherlach didn’t hesitate.

They ran into the hallway to confront the danger and were murdered execution-style as a result.

Little did she know that Adam had already killed his mother at the home they shared nearby. He took three of her guns and used her car to drive to the school.

Diane Day, a school therapist, told the Wall Street Journal that she and several other teachers were in a meeting with Mrs Hochsprung and Mrs Sherlach when the shooting began.

‘We were there for about five minutes chatting and we heard, “pop pop pop,”‘ she said. ‘I went under the table.’

The principal and the school psychologist had other ideas. They jumped out of their seats and ran toward the sound of the gunfire.

‘They didn’t think twice about confronting or seeing what was going on,’ Ms Day said.

Rabbi Shaul Praver told MSNBC that Mrs Hochsprung and Mrs Sherlach were killed execution-style.


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