Indiana teacher hailed after school shooting
Educator, football coach reportedly intervened with gunman
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. – An Indiana middle school science teacher is being hailed as a hero after students and parents say he intervened as a student opened fire in his classroom Friday morning.
Jason Seaman, a seventh-grade science teacher and football coach at Noblesville West Middle School, was shot several times after police say a boy in his class asked to be excused and returned with two handguns, shooting Seaman and a 13-year-old girl.
Multiple students and parents told the Indianapolis Star on Friday that Seaman stepped in to stop the shooter. It was not immediately clear how.
In a written statement provided to the Star by Fox59, Seaman confirmed he was injured and thanked first responders to the shooting.
“I want to let everyone know that I was injured but am doing great,” Seaman said. “To all students, you are all wonderful and I thank you for your support. You are the reason I teach.”
Seaman’s brother, Jeremy Seaman, told the Star his brother was conscious after the shooting.
“When he was taken to the hospital, I know he was talking,” Jeremy Seaman said. “He talked to his wife. He told her he was OK.”
Seaman, 29, has two young children, a toddler son and a month-old daughter, his brother said.
Seaman’s mother said in a public Facebook post that Seaman was shot in his abdomen, hip and forearm.
Jeremy Seaman said he wasn’t surprised his brother, a former defensive end for Southern Illinois University, put his own safety at risk on behalf of his students.
“He’s not really ever been the person to run away,” he said. “When the safety of the kids is at hand, it’s not surprising to me that he was going to do what he had to do.”
Molly Miles, a freshman at Noblesville High School, said she can remember Seaman telling her class during active-shooter drills that he would keep them safe.
“I especially remember that he would throw himself on top of the shooter if he had to, which he proved today,” she said. “He always said that he was willing to sacrifice himself before he was willing to let anything happen to his students.”
Jeremie Lovall said his daughter, a seventhgrader, was in the classroom when the shooting started. She called her dad to tell him she was OK.
“She kept saying, ‘I saw my teacher get shot,’ ” Lovall said.
Jacob Long, an eighth-grader, described a chaotic scene with students crying and teachers taking off their belts to tether doors.
Long said he didn’t know the students involved but knew Seaman well. He played football and ran track for him.
“He’s a good coach and a good teacher,” Long said, “an all-around good guy.”
Mac Lynas, a seventh-grader who also played football this year for Seaman, agreed.
“He’s a good coach,” Lynas said, “a good person.”
“He cares about the kids,” said Janna Lynas, Mac’s mom. “More than just developing football players, he wants to develop kids into young men.”
Jeremy Seaman said his brother was a three-sport high school athlete in Mahomet, Ill. He tore his ACL playing basketball in his junior year, but after several surgeries he was back on the football field in August, his brother said. He went on to play at Southern Illinois University.
“He’s familiar with struggle and adversity,” his brother said.
Steve Vedder, who lives across the street from Seaman, said when he heard on the news that the injured teacher was a seventh-grade science teacher, “I knew it had to be him.”