Aaron Feis, first confirmed fatality at Florida high school, died shielding students

By Sally Persons - The Washington Times - Thursday, February 15, 2018

The first fatality of the deadly shooting at a Florida high school was identified Thursday as Aaron Feis, the school’s football coach.

The team’s Twitter page confirmed the death of Feis, assistant football coach at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, who died shielding students from the bullets of the gunman. He is the first of the 17 people dead to be publicly identified. Another 15 people remain hospitalized.

“It is with Great sadness that our Football Family has learned about the death of Aaron Feis. He was our Assistant Football Coach and security guard. He selflessly shielded students from the shooter when he was shot. He died a hero and he will forever be in our hearts and memories,” the team’s tweet read.

The suspected gunman, Nikolas Cruz, opened fire on his former high school on Wednesday afternoon, armed with a semi-automatic rifle and throwing smoke grenades. He was charged Thursday with 17 counts of premeditated murder. There is no confirmed motive at this time.

It is with Great sadness that our Football Family has learned about the death of Aaron Feis. He was our Assistant Football Coach and security guard. He selflessly shielded students from the shooter when he was shot. He died a hero and he will forever be in our hearts and memories pic.twitter.com/O181FvuHl3
— MS Douglas Football (@MSDEagles) February 15, 2018