Colton Haab, Junior ROTC member and 17-year-old student, protected his fellow classmates with sheets of Kevlar during Wednesday’s school shooting in Florida.
Kevlar is an industrial material used in protective vests for soldiers and police.
Haab said he and the other JROTC members had just finished some drills Wednesday when the shooting began. He and his captain were able to pull about 70 kids into a classroom used by the school’s JROTC members and shield them with the Kevlar, which hangs on the walls. Haab said they knew the Kevlar would slow the bullets down.
Haab initially called his brother to confirm he was OK. After Haab learned his brother was safe, he called his father and asked him to turn on the news, and stay on the phone so he could stay informed. “You’ve got to keep me up to date so I can keep as many people safe as possible,” he told his dad.
After making sure the students were unable to be seen behind the sheets of protective material, Haab and his friends barricaded the door and armed themselves with a fire extinguisher ready to fight.
Luckily, the shooter never tried to enter that classroom. But Haab said, “… I was going to try and stop him with another friend that was with us.”
Haab said he knew he would make it home that day because he was, “destined to survive.”
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