Heroic teacher recalls moment she disarmed “little girl” school shooter

A math teacher is being hailed as a hero for disarming a student shooter at her school.

Eighth-grade teacher Krista Gneiting bravely intervened during the May 6 incident at the school in Rigby, Idaho and has been credited with saving lives through her quick thinking and actions.

Now, Gneiting has been giving her account of what happened, saying that the shooter “was a little girl and my brain couldn’t quite grasp that.”

Gneiting, who told her story to ABC’s Good Morning America, said that, on the day of the shooting, she was preparing her students at Rigby Middle School for final exams when she heard a gunshot from down the hall.

“I got up and I walked to my door and I just looked out and I just saw one person in the hallway, quite a ways down and it was our janitor and I shut the door and I came back in and I heard two more shots,” Gneiting told GMA. “So I just told my students we are going to leave, we’re going to run to the high school, you’re gonna run hard. You’re not gonna look back and now is the time to get up and go.”

As Gneiting exited her classroom she heard one of the victims.

“One of the boys just started talking about ‘Ouch, I’m shot.’ And I just looked at him and I said ‘Are you shot?’ and he said yes,” Gneiting said.

While she was trying to help the boy Gneiting looked up and saw the gun.

The teacher then described the moment she encountered the shooter.

“It was a little girl and my brain couldn’t quite grasp that. And so I looked at her and I quietly said ‘Are you the shooter?'”

“I just knew that when I saw that gun I had to get the gun,” Gneiting said. “…I just walked up to her and I put my hand over her hand and I just slowly pulled the gun out of her hand and she allowed me to. She didn’t fight. She didn’t give it to me but she didn’t fight.”

Gneiting then said she pulled the girl into a hug.

“(B)ecause I thought this little girl has a mom somewhere that doesn’t realize she’s having a breakdown and she’s hurting people.”

Gneiting is hopeful the girl gets the help she needs.

“She’s just barely starting life and she just needs some help,” Gneiting said. “Everybody makes mistakes. I think we need to make sure we get her help and get her back into where she loves herself so that she can function in society.”