SPRING, Texas - As shots rang out inside Stoneman Douglas High School, and the alleged shooter picked off students one by one, one man used his body to shield students from a gunman's bullets.
"He jumped into action and saved lives," said Charlie Bryan. "When I heard staff members were shot, I had a feeling he was one of them."
Bryan is a football coach at Dekaney High in Spring. He soon learned his feeling was tragically right. His friend Aaron Feis had been killed. The news hurt.
"I'm still in shock," Bryan said. "It just seems so unreal."
Feis did it all at Douglas High. He was a security guard, an assistant football coach and a mentor.
"You look up mentor in the dictionary, and you see Aaron Feis," Bryan said.
Bryan coached at Douglas alongside Feis from 2006 to 2008. Thursday, Bryan wore his Douglas football shirt as a way to honor his former school and friend.
"We hung out a lot off campus," Bryan said. "Also in school when we coached. He was that guy everyone liked."
Bryan says Parkland, Fla., is the last place he would've expected this type of horror. But when it struck Wednesday afternoon, he's grateful a man like Coach Feis was in those hallways to help save lives.
"He saw a guy with a gun, and instead of protecting himself, he tried to protect others. That's a hero in my book," Bryan said.
Feis leaves behind a wife and daughter. If you'd like to donate to help his family, you can do so here.