Teacher Who Faced Gunman

In December 2012, Sandy Hook teacher Victoria Leigh Soto hid her first grade students and tried to redirect gunman Adam Lanza away from her classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. When Lanza entered, she had several children concealed in a closet, told him they were in the gym, and was shot while reportedly trying to shield her students as some of them ran from their hiding places. She was posthumously awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal in 2013, and musician Paul Simon performed “The Sound of Silence” at her funeral.

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