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Sixth-grade student describes 'horrifying' day at Ohio middle school: 'It feels good to be alive'

Posted at 2:38 PM, Feb 20, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-21 07:02:20-05

For students at Jackson Memorial Middle School in Ohio, Tuesday wasn't a normal day. 

When a seventh-grade student pulled out a gun and shot himself, students began to panic.  

Airyonna Haggerty, who is a sixth grader at the school, described the moment teachers told her to get inside the classroom.

The 12-year-old heard teachers screaming to get inside the classroom and the next thing she knew, she was hiding and crouching down with her fellow peers near the teacher's desk.

"I dropped everything. My phone, my chrome book, my book bag and me and my friends ran into the classroom and then we all hid. We were probably there for about 20 minutes," said Haggerty.

The principal of the school knocked on the classroom door and told the students and teacher that everyone had to go to another class.

"We started gathering our stuff and went into the hallway. Then we went to go open the door and it was locked," said Haggerty. "We heard people banging on it so we ran and we got scared."

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Haggerty, along with other students, were moved to the gym where they sat for several hours waiting.

"It was really scary, especially when the teachers told me to run to the classroom, I didn't know what was going on. It was horrifying," she said. "It feels good to be alive and getting out of that school and getting to your parents feels good."