MODEST

Teacher Who Stopped School Shooting Says Tackling Gunman ‘Only Acceptable Action’

“My actions on that day, in my mind, were the only acceptable actions I could have done given the circumstances.”

The Indiana schoolteacher who has been hailed as a hero for tackling a classroom shooter last week downplayed his own actions in his first public comments about the incident. Describing himself as a “person who isn’t looking for attention,” seventh-grade science teacher Jason Seaman on Monday focused instead on 13-year-old student Ella Whistler, who was seriously injured in the shooting at Noblesville West Middle School. Seaman was shot when he rushed the gunman and swatted the weapon away but escaped serious injury. He praised Whistler for her bravery, describing it as “nothing short of remarkable.”  “I want to make it clear that my actions on that day, in my mind, were the only acceptable actions I could have done given the circumstances,” Seaman said. He declined to answer questions from reporters, choosing instead to thank the school resource officer and nurse who he said “kept Ella alert and calm as we waited for help to arrive.”