Victoria Soto
HEARTACHE: Neil Heslin’s son, Jesse Lewis, was killed trying to run from the madman, while teacher Victoria Soto (inset) died trying to save Jesse. “My boy died the way I would have died,” the dad said. (
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A group of little first-graders was so terrified when crazed gunman Adam Lanza burst into their classroom that they ran from their safe hiding place only to be promptly gunned down, one of the children’s fathers recounted yesterday.
“I wish my kid stayed put,” shattered father Neil Heslin said of his 6-year-old son Jesse Lewis’ decision to make a run for it.
“But that’s Jesse,’’ the dad told The Post, struggling to make sense of the tragedy.
“I can see him making that choice and just doing something. My boy died the way I would have died if I was in that position.”
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Jesse’s teacher, Victoria Soto, 27, has been hailed as a hero for trying to defend Jesse and her 12 other small charges — ultimately using her own body as a shield — as Lanza raged in her classroom.
Upon first hearing Lanza’s gunfire in the distance, Soto quickly herded her confused kids into a closet or bathroom, according to the Hartford Courant.
Lanza soon barged into the classroom and demanded to know where her kids were.
In a desperate bluff to fend off his assault, Soto told him that they were in an auditorium at the other end of the building, the paper reported, citing a law-enforcement source.
But before he left, six of the panicked children attempted to flee from Lanza, the newspaper reported.
They were all immediately shot down.
Soto and a teacher’s aide were also killed in the chaos.
The seven remaining students stayed hidden in terrified silence until they were discovered cowering by astonished investigators.
“Finally, [authorities] opened that door, and there were seven sets of eyes looking at them,” a law-enforcement source told the newspaper.
Heslin said he learned of Jesse’s decision to run for freedom only yesterday and was torn between regret and admiration.
“Jesse grew up on a farm,” he said. “He’s tough. That would be my little guy to try to get out of there.”
“My son thought he could conquer the world. He had no fear of anything at all. He was a calm, level-headed kid.”
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Heslin said Jesse’s mother was plunged into despair after getting word of their boy’s death and is being watched closely by friends and family.
The slaughter of the six children and two teachers came after Lanza had already eradicated any sign of life in another first-grade classroom, where he murdered all 14 kids. He killed four other educators at the school.
Local pastor James Solomon told The Post that one little girl had survived the slaughter by playing dead.
“She was the first one to leave the building, and she told her mom, ‘Mommy, I’m OK, but all my friends are dead,’ ” Solomon said at the New Hope Community Church in Newtown.
Solomon said the girl’s face had been bloodied because she came into close contact with her slain classmates.
“She’s traumatized . . . She’s still alive, which is such a miracle. [But] she’s going to be traumatized for a while. We’re in the process of counseling right now.”
At her family’s request, Solomon did not identify the girl.
Lanza finished his rampage as sirens wailed nearer to the school and law-enforcement officers closed in. He raised a gun to his head and blasted himself into oblivion, officials said.
Waves of heavily armed officers poured into the building and were stunned to find the carnage.
Asked about the sequence of events in Soto’s classroom, State Police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance would not comment.
Amy Wiltsie, the wife of Soto’s cousin, said cops told her that Soto threw herself between Lanza’s fusillade and her cornered students in an attempt to save their lives.
Amy’s husband and Soto’s cousin, Fairfield County cop James Wiltsie, said that Soto adored her students and that her actions were not surprising.
Meanwhile, the only shot survivor of Lanza’s carnage, Sandy Hook Vice Principal Natalie Hammond, remained in a Danbury hospital yesterday in stable condition.
Hammond reportedly was behind a closed door and pushed her body against it to prevent Lanza from entering. She was shot in the leg and arm.
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy visited Hammond yesterday morning.
Family members told reporters that she is coping with the trauma of her experience as best she can.
While Heslin said he was happy for those who made it out of Sandy Hook Elementary alive, the enormity of losing his best friend, his son, was just starting to sink in yesterday.
He spent much of his day back working at a construction site, trying to take his mind off of the horrors of the last three days.
He remembered Jesse accompanying him on backbreaking jobs and offering encouragement when his old man grew tired toward the end of the day.
“We’re not quitting until the work is done” was Jesse’s mantra to his dad.
“He never complained,” Heslin said. “He was always there, always ready to keep going.”
“I have no family left,” the divorced father said.
“Jesse was all I had.”
Additional reporting by Tara Palmeri in Newtown, Conn.