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Ryan Heber didn’t even know he had been shot. 

The high school teacher faced the student, a 16-year-old who has not been identified because he is a minor, and pleaded with him to give up his 12-gauge shotgun.

“I don’t want to shoot you,” he told the science teacher.

Heber continued, coaxing the teen to put down the weapon.

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The distraction was enough to get all 28 students out of the classroom. During the ordeal, one student was shot and is in critical condition. He is expected to go into surgery today. Heber’s head was grazed by a stray pellet, but he refused medical attention. Another student, a girl who was standing next to the shooter when he burst into the first period science class, suffered from hearing damage. And one other student was hurt falling over overturned desks and tables to escape the classroom.

But fortunately this situation, which we see too often in schools, ended with no deaths and the suspect in custody, thanks to Heber’s quick thinking and bravery.

Eventually the teen surrendered his weapon to Heber and campus supervisor Kim Lee Fields, according to Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood. Youngblood also revealed that his pockets were stuffed with more ammunition.

“This teacher and this counselor stood there face-to-face not knowing if he was going to shoot them,” Youngblood said. “They probably expected the worst and hoped for the best, but they gave the students a chance to escape.”

Youngblood continued:

“The heroics of these two people goes without saying. … They could have just as easily … tried to get out of the classroom and left students, and they didn’t,” the sheriff said. “They knew not to let him leave the classroom with that shotgun.”

The residents of the town, a small residential area about 120 miles from Los Angeles, are shocked, some telling reporters that they never thought this could happen to them.

But new details about the case have reignited the discussion of bullying in school, which can happen anywhere.

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According to Youngblood, the teen planned the shooting to get revenge on another student who was bullying him.

On Wednesday night the teen went home and plotted revenge, Youngblood said. He found a gun that authorities believe belonged to the suspect’s older brother, and went to bed that night plotting revenge against two students.

“He planned the event,” Youngblood said. “Certainly he believed that the two people he targeted had bullied him, in his mind. Whether that occurred or not we don’t know yet.”

Youngblood added that he had felt bullied by the victim for more than a year.

Neighbors and students backed up that claim. 

Trish Montes described her neighbor as “a short guy” and “small” who was teased about his stature by many.

Montes said her son had worked at the school and tutored the boy last year.

“All I ever heard about him was good things from my son,” Montes said. “He wasn’t Mr. Popularity, but he was a smart kid. It’s a shame. My kid said he was like a genius.”

Youngblood said that the student will be charged with attempted murder.

Ironically, the shooting came just minutes after administrators announced new lockdown procedures created in response to the Newtown, Conn. shootings.

We’re glad the science teacher was able to think quickly and we applaud him, and ALL teachers who face danger in order to save their students. Educators are the real heroes!

SOURCE: Huffington Post