Teacher Who Stopped School Shooter 'Is Chuck Norris, Basically'

Angela McQueen tackled the unidentified student shooter Wednesday in Illinois
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 22, 2017 6:43 PM CDT
Teacher Who Stopped School Shooter Identified
Angela McQueen   (Mattoon High School)

"Lives were saved by a quick response of a teacher here," CNN quotes Mattoon Police Chief Jeff Branson as saying after a student opened fire at an Illinois high school on Wednesday. "If that teacher had not responded as quickly as they had, I think the situation would have been a lot different." Now the teacher has been identified as Angela McQueen. According to CBS News, McQueen teaches math and PE and has been at Mattoon High School for more than a decade. When an unidentified 16-year-old student allegedly opened fire in the school cafeteria, witnesses say McQueen did exactly as she was taught in recent active shooter training, grabbing the shooter's arm to take away his ability to aim—he fired multiple shots into the ceiling after McQueen grabbed him—and taking him to the ground. The student was then disarmed by a school resource officer.

"I can't tell you how impressed I am with her,” Branson tells the Chicago Tribune. A Mattoon student put it another way: "Mrs. McQueen is Chuck Norris, basically." McQueen turned down requests for comment, but her mother, Barbara McQueen, says her daughter likely "reacted instinctively" and based on "strong Christian instincts." "When she saw the situation and, you know, 'Okay, this kid's going to kill somebody if I don't do something,' she just took action,'" Barbara McQueen tells CBS. "Angela was there to clean up Satan's mess," she adds to the Tribune. On the Mattoon High School website, McQueen—who scored more than 1,000 points as a high-school basketball star—says she became a teacher "to make the world a better place." One student was injured in the shooting and has been released from the hospital. The suspect is in custody. (More school shooting stories.)

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