A teenage survivor of the Florida school shooting put himself in the line of fire to save fellow students, according to a classmate.
Anthony Borges, 15, was shot five times during the Valentine’s Day rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
Fellow student Carlos Rodriguez told ABC that he and more than a dozen other students owed their lives to Borges’ heroism.
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Borges was among about 20 students who sought refuge in a classroom as the gunman stalked the corridors of the school, shooting randomly at fleeing students with an automatic rifle.
As he hurried to lock the door, the gunman opened fire, Rodriguez said. Despite being wounded, the boy held his ground and continued to lock the door.
“None of us knew what to do. So, he took the initiative to just save his other classmates,” Rodriguez said.
Borges was shot four more times, his body shielding other students, who escaped unharmed.
The 15-year-old was later rushed to hospital with bullet wounds to his back and legs. He was the last of the hospitalised survivors to be listed as “critical”, but his condition has now been upgraded to stable, the New York Daily News reports.
A Facebook post by the local sheriff’s department showing Sheriff Scott Israel shaking the injured boy’s hand as he lies in a hospital bed has been shared nearly 10,000 times.
Israel said he was “honoured” to visit Borges, whom he described as having “a long road ahead”.
Ex-student Nikolas Cruz has reportedly confessed to carrying out the attack, which left 17 people dead and more than a dozen wounded.