Education

Teacher Who Disarmed Sixth-Grade School Shooter Said She Hugged Student Until Police Arrived

Screenshot/ABC News

Marlo Safi Culture Reporter
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A teacher at an Idaho school told ABC News she disarmed the sixth-grade girl who is suspected of opening fire in early May and hugged the student until police arrived. 

Krista Gneiting, a math teacher at Rigby Middle School, told ABC News that she was preparing her class for final exams when she heard a gunshot down the hall.

When she looked at the end of the hallway, the school janitor was lying on the floor. She said she shut the door and began instructing her students on how to leave the classroom as two more shots were fired.

“‘We are going to leave, we’re going to run to the high school, you’re going to run hard, you’re not going to look back and now is the time to get up and go,'” Gneiting said she told her students on the morning of May 6. 

The incident unfolded around 9:08 a.m., when the suspect pulled a handgun out of her backpack. The student began firing multiple rounds both inside and outside the building, Jefferson County Sheriff Steve Anderson reportedly said during a press conference following the shooting. (RELATED: Sixth Grade Girl Identified As Idaho School Shooter)

Two students were shot in the hallway, and a third victim was shot outside, the sheriff’s office said, according to ABC News. The victims are all expected to survive.

A student told ABC News that her class heard the gunshots. “We heard one gunshot and then we heard another, and then we heard multiple kids screaming,” the student said. “My friends and I were freaking out and hiding in the corner of our classroom.”

Gneiting said she was helping one of the injured students when she saw a girl holding a gun, and knew she had to disarm her.

“It was a little girl and my brain couldn’t quite grasp that,” she told ABC News. She said that she quietly asked the girl “Are you the shooter?” She then says she walked up to her, placed her hand over the girl’s hand, and took the gun out of her hand. Gneiting said the girl didn’t resist, and once she disarmed the girl, she pulled her into a hug.

“She didn’t give it to me but she didn’t fight,” Gneiting said. “And then after I got the gun, I just pulled her into a hug because I thought, this little girl has a mom somewhere that doesn’t realize she’s having a breakdown and she’s hurting people.”

After disarming the girl, Gneiting said she called 911 from her cellphone and continued to hug the girl until police arrived. 

“After a while, the girl started talking to me and I could tell she was very unhappy,” Gneiting explained. “I just kept hugging her and loving her and trying to let her know that we’re going to get through this together.”

The teacher said that once police arrived, she told the girl she would have to be handcuffed. 

“She didn’t respond, she just let him,” Gneiting told ABC News. “He was very gentle and very kind, and he just went ahead and took her and put her in the police car.”

Gneiting said she hopes she can meet the suspected student again, and hopes she gets the help and forgiveness she needs, according to ABC News.

“She is just barely starting in life and she just needs some help. Everybody makes mistakes,” Gneiting said. “I think we need to make sure we get her help and get her back into where she loves herself so that she can function in society.”

The shooter’s name has not been released, but prosecutors told ABC News that the girl is facing charges and is still in custody.