Florida school shooting: 15-year-old student 'died holding door open for others to escape'

Peter Wang one of 14 pupils shot dead in Valentine's Day massacre

A teenager killed in the Florida high school shooting held the door open for classmates to escape the gunman before he died, the victim's family said.

Peter Wang was one of 17 people – including 14 students – shot dead by former pupil Nikolas Cruz at Marjory Stoneman Douglas School in the city of Parkland on Wednesday, police said.

The 15-year-old’s cousin, Aaron Chen, told The Miami Herald Peter was last seen holding a door open for terrified schoolchildren.

“He wasn’t supposed to die. He was supposed to grow old with me. Please share his story,” Aaron said.

Gabriel Ammirata, Peter’s best friend, told the newspaper he was “funny, nice and a great friend. He’s been my best friend since third grade”.

She said she planned to share Chinese New Year on Thursday evening with Peter’s parents, who were too upset to talk to media, at the family’s Chinese restaurant.

“He is so brave,” said Lin Chen, another cousin of Peter’s who flew from Louisiana to be with the teenage boy’s family. “He is the person who is genuinely kind to everyone. He doesn’t care about popularity.”

She told the Sun Sentinel: “He always liked to cheer people up. He is like the big brother everyone wished they had.”

Ms Chen said Peter had two younger brothers, aged 11 and five. “I feel the family can never be the same,” she added.

Alyssa Alhadeff, 15, Martin Duque, 14, Nicholas Dworet, 17, Jaime Guttenberg, 14, Luke Hoyer, 15, Cara Loughran, 14, Gina Montalto, 14, Joaquin Oliver, 17, Alaina Petty, 14, Meadow Pollack, 18, Helena Ramsey, 17, Helena Ramsey, 17, Alex Schachter, 14, and Carmen Schentrup, 16, were the other student victims of what is one of the worst school shootings in US history.

Track coach Aaron Feis, 37, geography teacher Scott Beigel, 35, and athletic director Chris Hixon, 49, also died.