‘Substitute teacher’ David Briscoe said he protected students in a US school shooting – turns out he wasn’t even there
- Briscoe claimed he barricaded door at Santa Fe High School to protect his class during the incident last May, telling his story to at least four media outlets
- His story unravelled after he retold it for the shooting’s anniversary and checks revealed he never worked for the school
When the acrid smell of gunpowder swirled through Santa Fe High School in Texas last May, several people rushed into action.
One 15-year old student, Christian Riley Garcia, was killed after he used his body as a barricade for students hiding in a closet. Another student, Chris Stone, blocked a door and was shot in the chest. Garcia and Stone were among 10 killed, at least 10 others wounded and many others who fled the chaos.
David Briscoe was not one of them, despite what you may have read.
“I barricaded the door with desks and tables and shut the lights,” Briscoe originally told CNN, telling a reporter the grim story of hearing what he thought was a student groaning after being shot.
Briscoe tweeted about the ordeal, saying he was a substitute teacher at the scene. He told at least four media outlets – CNN, Time, The Wall Street Journal and the Austin American-Statesman – about his own brave actions to save his students.
But Briscoe’s story unravelled after he contacted Texas Tribune reporter Alex Samuels to retell his story for anniversary coverage, leading to a startling conclusion in a Monday bombshell: Briscoe was not a witness, never worked for the school, and then denied he ever made those claims.