Students say hero teacher really a ‘coward’ who left them to die

At least two students who survived the chaos and bloodshed of the Florida school shooting last month are challenging the narrative surrounding a teacher hailed as a hero after the rampage.

Math teacher Jim Gard was credited with protecting students in his classroom in the horrifying moments of Feb. 14 as a gunman unleashed a fusillade of bullets at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. In recent days, however, students Josh Gallagher and Connor Dietrich have expressed contempt for Gard on Twitter.

Gallagher said he was in Gard’s class when the fire alarm went off and the students filed out. When they heard gunshots, about 15 of them froze before racing back to the classroom. Gard, however, had locked the door and refused to let them in.

“We were stuck in the hall for four total minutes, ducking and in fear for our lives” until a teacher Gallagher didn’t know let them in another classroom, he said.

Gard gave a phone interview to CBS Miami while still holed up in his classroom with some of his students, less than two hours after the shooting spree.

Gallagher noted that Gard was interviewed by media multiple times and has been acclaimed a hero. “He is nothing but a coward,” Gallagher said. “He has re-victimized the students he left out of his class by calling himself a hero.”

“As one of the kids left in the hallway I want people to understand how terrifying and defenseless I personally felt,” Dietrich tweeted. “The person I had to rely on left us to die and that’s not okay.”

Gard expressed shock at the accusations, telling the South Florida SunSentinel he followed protocol.