The Real Iron Man: 15-Year-Old Uses Body to Shield 20 Students From Gunfire

Anthony Borges saw Nikolas Cruz armed with an AR-15 as he walked up the stairwell to the third floor of Building 12 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Borges and other students on the third floor heard the chaos and gunfire underneath them. Students weren't sure exactly what was going on but knew danger lurked about. They attempted to hide inside of classrooms.

Borges attempted to hide inside a classroom, although was shot in the leg seconds before he made it inside. Twenty other students hid behind the door, hoping and praying Cruz would not find them.

He crawled inside the classroom, convinced he was going to die.

Anthony saw the other students hiding in the room and decided to protect them if he was going to die. He placed his body against the wooden door. This stopped Cruz from entering the room but did not stop the flurry of bullets he continued to fire from his semi-automatic rifle. The bullets impaled the wooden door and Borges’ neck and back.

Anthony had been struck five times.

None of the other students in the classroom were injured.

Cruz continued down the hallway, indiscriminately firing his weapon into the glass on classroom doors. He killed five students and injured several others. He walked into a teacher’s lounge where he attempted to shoot out the glass of the room’s hurricane-resistant windows, as this would have given him direct access to a large group of students and faculty on the second floor. He was unsuccessful in shooting out the glass.

The Deadliest School Shooting in U.S. History

On Valentine’s Day 2018, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, arrived at the Parkland, Florida, high school, by Uber at 2:19 p.m. Armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle and a duffle bag filled with ammunition, Cruz made his way into Building 12 determined to kill as many people as possible.

School faculty spotted Cruz walking into the school with a rifle case and the duffle bag filled with ammo, although did not call a “Code Red” and placed the school on lockdown until 2:21 p.m. after hearing gunfire and spotting a dead body. School Resource Officer Scot Peterson was outside at the time of the incident. Despite hearing the chaos inside, as well as the Code, he remained outside and took cover.

As many as 900 students and faculty filled the 30-classroom, three-story Building 12.

“You better get out of here,” he warned 15-year-old student Chris McKenna, passing by in the hallway.

“Things are going to start getting messy.”

Cruz walked down the hallway, firing his weapon at anyone in his path. Chaos ensued as students and faculty fled as they heard gunfire. Students fled into classrooms, hoping to hide from the gunfire.

Cruz killed 12 people on the first floor, including three faculty members. He fired aimlessly into the hallway as he continued to the second floor of Building 12. Those bullets, thankfully, missed their mark.

Weapon Malfunctioned, Cruz Fled the Scene

At 2:25 p.m. six minutes after Nikolas Cruz opened fire at Marjory Stoneman High School, his weapon malfunctioned. He dropped his weapon on the floor and ran down the hallway and out of the school, leaving a frenzy of blood and death behind.

Seventeen people were dead and another 17 were seriously injured.

Borges lay on the floor inside the classroom, unable to move. He cried for help in English and Spanish; no one came for what seemed like forever. He called his parents, although neither answered. He thought his life was over, all his hopes and dreams gone, at 15 years old. Miraculously, Borges survived his injuries, although likely will need lifelong medical treatment.

The Real-Life Iron Man

Anthony Borges has undergone 15+ surgeries since the Parkland school shooting. Three of the five bullets struck Anthony in the legs, two hit him in the torso and one in his back. He suffered more than a dozen injuries, including a ruptured lung, and needed a metal rod put in his leg.

He has massive scars across his back, torso, and legs, and even six years forward, still suffers emotional consequences from that day. He doesn’t feel like a hero, although students inside that classroom attribute Bores for saving their lives.

Cruz Arrested Over An Hour Later

Cruz stopped by a fast food restaurant and the mall to grab a soda before walking two miles to Cape Coral, Florida. Police caught up with him at 3:41 p.m. and took him into custody on 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder.

Cruz faced the death penalty, although jurors spared his life and sentenced him to 17 terms of life in prison.

The Parkland High School shooting is the deadliest in U.S. history.