05/10/2026
Victoria Leigh Soto was a 27-year-old first-grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
On December 14, 2012, when Adam Lanza entered the school and began sh**ting, Soto sprung into action.
She hid all her students into a closet and bathroom, then positioned herself between them and the door.
When Lanza entered her classroom, she lied to him and told him the children weren't there, and he believed it.
But as some of the children began to run from their hiding places, Lanza spotted them, and without hesitation, she placed herself between them and the att*cker, using her own body to shield them.
Lanza sh*t and killed her. Her actions saved several lives.
She was posthumously awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Obama.
Schools, scholarships, and roads have since been named in her honor.
Her family said afterward that Vicki d*ed doing what she loved, protecting the children she cared for.