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In both shootings, law enforcement or families of victims said more people would have died if not for the actions of Castillo and Howell.

Nui Giasolli was in class in Colorado, expecting to have a fun end-of-year session analyzing comedic effect in the 1987 film “The Princess Bride,” when an 18-year-old classmate walked in late, which he often did. She said she didn’t think much of it, until he shut the door, pulled out a gun and told the class, “Don’t anybody move.”

Giasolli froze and went blank. Then she thought it must be a joke. She heard her teacher say something like, “Gun. Get down.”

Then the classmate started shooting, and Giasolli saw Castillo and several others lunge to try to get the gun. She ducked under a desk. She didn’t see any hesitation from Castillo, she said. If he had any hesitation, she said, “he threw it out the window.”

The classmate shot Castillo, and that gave others time to hide under desks or run, she said. As the shooter ran, several boys in her class tackled him.

When she saw the shooter pinned down, she ran.

Photo by Handouts

Another student, Brendan Bialy, who is 18 and a member of the Marine Corps Delayed Entry Program, helped subdue one of the shooters, the U.S. Marine Corps said. Leadership and “a bias to action” were things Bialy, who is expected to ship out to boot camp this summer, had been talking about with his recruiter since he joined the program in July and began training and preparing for the Corps, said Capt. Michael Maggitti.