Assistant football coach Aaron Feis was shielding students from gunfire when he was killed Wednesday, one of 17 victims at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The football team described Feis, who also worked as a security guard, as a hero, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

"He selflessly shielded students from the shooter when he was shot," the football team wrote on Twitter. "He died a hero and he will forever be in our hearts and memories." The Sun-Sentinel writes that Douglas football coach Willis May heard "directly from a student that Feis jumped between her and the shooter, to push her out through a door and out of the line of fire."

May described Feis as a "big ol' teddy bear" and students said he was "a great guy" and expressed concern about him on Twitter in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

Can everyone please take a second to pray for my coach today he took serval bullets covering other students at Douglas . pic.twitter.com/8AMG7t6tpH — Charlie Rothkopf (@RothkopfCharlie) February 14, 2018

When someone asked on the school security walkie-talkie if the sound being heard was firecrackers, "I heard Aaron say, 'No, that is not firecrackers,'" May told the Sun-Sentinel. "That's the last I heard of him." Jeva Lange