Channel 2’s Jovita Moore spoke exclusively to the bookkeeper that came face-to-face with the gunman at Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy Tuesday.
Antoinette Tuff said she was the one sitting in the front office when Michael Brandon Hill walked in with his assault rifle drawn.
For nearly an hour she talked to him about her life and his own all the while saving the lives of many others.
“The clips that go into the gun… he sat there right in front of me in the office and began to load them with bullets,” Tuff told Moore.
“Antoinette, this whole time, what are you thinking?” Moore asked Tuff.
“I just started praying for him. I just started talking to him and allowing him to know some of the stories and let him know what was going on with me and that it would be OK. And then let him know that he could just give himself up,” Tuff said.
“Did you tell him to put the guns down?” Moore asked.
“I did. I told him to put them on the table, empty his pockets. He had me actually get on the intercom and tell everybody he was sorry too. But I told them, ‘He was sorry, but do not come out of their rooms,” Tuff said.
“You're the hero today,” Moore told Tuff.
"I give it all to God, I'm not the hero. I was terrified,” Tuff said.
Tuff said her pastor has recently talked about 'anchoring' in the lord. She said she just thought about her faith in God the entire time she was facing the gunman. She also thought about her family.
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