Teen shot five times protecting classmates
UNITED STATES: A 15-year-old student who was shot five times during last week’s massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida is credited with saving the lives of at least 20 other students.
A fundraising site says Anthony Borges was shot in both legs and his back while attempting to close and lock a classroom door last Wednesday. Seventeen people were killed.
Borges’ friend Carlos Rodriguez told ABC’s Good Morning America that the two rushed to hide in a nearby classroom when they first heard gunshots.
He says no-one knew what to do, but that Borges ``took the initiative to just save his other classmates’'.
Borges’ father Royer Borges says his son called him while lying on the ground after being shot. The father asked him to stay on the line, but at one point, he couldn’t hear the teenager’s voice anymore.
``He told me later `I had to drop the phone because I thought he was coming in and I wanted to pretend I was asleep so he wouldn’t continue shooting,’' Borges said.
Anthony Borges and his family are originally from Venezuela. His father says the boy is well-known among local sports clubs for his football skills, playing forward and training with Barcelona’s youth academy near Fort Lauderdale.
Moved by the Florida student’s actions, US footballer Landon Donovan rallied his fans to donate to help the teenager’s family.
``One of our own was a hero last week and needs our help,’' Donovan wrote on his Twitter account.
Borges’ GoFundMe had raised more than US$446,000 (NZ$610,000) as of Wednesday afternoon from nearly 14,000 donations. The legitimacy of the fundraising page was confirmed by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office. – AP