How One 7-Year-Old Escaped Adam Lanza's Shooting

By Audrey Barrick, Christian Post Reporter Saturday, December 22, 2012

The mother of a 7-year-old boy who attended Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., provided some details of how her son narrowly escaped gunman Adam Lanza.

Bryce Maksel was in the classroom of Vicki Soto, the young teacher lauded for her heroism, when Lanza began shooting in the school.

Jen Maksel, the mother, told People.com that when the gunman came into their classroom, "he looked at all of us."

Then when Lanza turned around toward the teacher, Soto, that's when Maksel and four other students ran.

"He (son) said, 'We just kept on running. We didn't know when to stop,'" the mother recalled her son telling the police.

"Bryce said to me, 'Are you happy that I was brave, mom?' I said, 'Absolutely.'"

Unfortunately, not everyone made it out alive. The young Maksel saw the gunman shoot his teacher and friends.

Soto is the 27-year-old teacher who has been praised by the public for sacrificing her life for her students. When she heard gunfire in the hallways last Friday morning, Soto gathered her first-grade students into the closet and tried to shield them. She was ultimately shot dead.

Her funeral was held Wednesday when hundreds remembered her for her selfless act.

Soto was among six adults and 20 children who were killed at the school. Lanza's mother was also found dead at her home. Lanza, 20, turned the gun on himself before police found him.