Brave Indian-Origin Teacher Saved Many Students During The Tragic Florida School Shooting
math teacher Shanthi Vishwanathan is being hailed a hero for her actions to protect her students during the shooting incident. She shut the doors to her algebra classroom made the students crouch on the floor and covered the windows when the alarm went off for the second time. When an elite police contingent known as a SWAT team came and knocked on the door asking her to open it Viswanathan took no chance that it wasnt a trick by the gunman.
In the aftermath of the horrific shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, social media has been flooded with condolences for the injured and deceased and condemnation of the act. But alongside all of that, there are also stories of heroism - of people who risked their own lives to save others.
Picture/Twitter/sbs
We heard of the football coach who threw himself in front of students as bullets hailed down and a student named Peter Wang who was inside the school holding a door open for people to escape during the shooting.
Now, a math teacher named Shanthi Vishwanathan is being hailed a hero for her actions to protect her students during the shooting incident.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, Viswanathan shut the doors to her algebra classroom, made the students crouch on the floor and covered the windows when the alarm went off for the second time.
"She was quick on her feet. She used her knowledge. She saved a lot of kids," Dawn Jarboe, the mother of one of Mrs Viswanathan's students, told the newspaper.
When an elite police contingent known as a SWAT team came and knocked on the door asking her to open it, "Viswanathan took no chance that it wasn't a trick by the gunman to get in" the newspaper said.
Reuters
"She said, 'knock it down or open it with a key. I'm not opening the door,'" Dawn Jarboe quoted her as telling the police.
Mrs Viswanathan did not want to take any chances, assuming that the shooter was pretending to be the police. The SWAT team ended up busting the window and entering through the opening.
Viswanathan has been rated well by her students over the years on the Rate My Teachers website, with many giving her four or five stars.
¡°Mrs. Viswanathan is a wonderful teacher who allowed me to expand my learning platform. She taught me with an appreciation of math in the real world. She cares about students and often stays after school to help her students with review sessions,¡± one student wrote. ¡°She never spends a day without teaching and always reassures every student understands the lesson. She wants every student to succeed and always tries the hardest to make sure we all do well.¡±
A former student of the school, Nikolas Cruz, barged into Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on Valentine's Day and killed 15 students and two staff members with an AR-15 automatic rifle. No motive has been established as of Friday afternoon, for the killings.
Reuters
People like Shanthi Vishwanathan have set a yardstick as to how quick thinking can save countless lives. The incident has forever scarred children who have lost their friends and teachers who have lost their students, all because of a silly fit of rage and loose gun laws.