A teacher is being hailed as a hero for stopping a student gunman at a central Illinois high school Wednesday. Natalie Martinez reports.
A central Illinois mathematics teacher who helped subdue a freshman student who shot another student has been honored and is talking about her actions.
The Illinois Education Association on Thursday said that because of Angela McQueen's quick response to contain the shooter in the Mattoon High School cafeteria on Sept. 20, only one student was injured, The Journal Gazette reported.
McQueen told the IEA that during the moment of the shooting she didn't really think.
"I sprang into action because I looked over and I saw a student pulling a gun out and he was aiming it at students to his right," McQueen said
In a video of her IEA interview, McQueen said the student fired a couple of rounds before she was able to force him to point the gun up toward the ceiling.
The Mattoon Police Department and the school district said police school resource officer Kasey Alexander arrived in the cafeteria and took the shooter into custody shortly after McQueen's actions.
McQueen said she has always taken active shooter training at the high school seriously. However, she said she didn't think a school shooting would ever happen in Mattoon because it's a quiet small town.
"You never think it is going to happen where you are at," McQueen said.
McQueen was honored at the high school by state police, the city of Mattoon and the school district.
