PARKLAND, Fla. – A student at Marjory Douglas Stoneman High School said she watched her favorite teacher die during Wednesday afternoon's shooting in Parkland.
Kelsey Friend said her social science teacher, Scott Beigel, was killed by the shooter while trying to lock the classroom door.
"Unfortunately, I had to watch him lying there lifeless in the doorway," she told Local 10 News reporter Erica Rakow.Â
Friend said Beigel was trying to save her and the other students in the classroom when he was gunned down.
"We were all in the classroom with the door wide open," Friend said.
Friend said she and her friends hid behind Beigel's desk.
She said the gunman, later identified by authorities as former student Nikolas Cruz, could have come in and shot everyone in the room.
"Thank God that he didn't because if he did, I probably wouldn't be with my mom … or see my sister again," Friend said.
Friend said they stayed in the classroom without making a sound until the SWAT team came to rescue them.Â
As she was being led out of the school, Friend said, she looked down and saw a puddle of blood and two students curled up in a ball on the floor. She also saw blood on the stairs and backpacks thrown to the ground.
Meanwhile, Friend is just trying not to think about it.
"She's going to have a different teacher," her mother, Sheila Friend, told Local 10. "That's going to be a daily reminder."
Kelsey Friend said she's just thankful for all Beigel did for her.
"I will truly, in every moment of my life, miss him," she said.