Though a long way from Parkland, Florida, a candlelight vigil is being held on Long Island later today for the hero geography teacher killed by a gunman last month during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.
Scott Beigel died while trying to lock a classroom door to protect his students. Beigel was a geography teacher and the school's cross country coach.
Kelsey Friend, a student in Beigel's class, recalled her teacher's heroic actions to Good Morning America:
"When he opened the door, he had to re-lock it so we could stay safe, but he didn't get the chance to," Friend said through tears. "And I'm so thankful that he was there to help everybody who did live in that classroom because he was in the doorway and the door was still open, and the shooter probably didn't know we were in there because Mr. Beigel was laying on the floor."
The 35-year-old graduated from Half Hollow Hills High School East in Dix Hills, Long Island, New York.His parents, Michael Schulman and Linda Beigel-Schulman, who still live in Dix Hills, will attend the vigil.
The street where he grew up is being renamed in his honor.