Ex-Southern Illinois DE wounded while intervening in school shooting

A former Southern Illinois University defensive end put himself in danger to help stop a shooter at a middle school in Indiana on Friday.

Jeremy Seaman, the older brother of Jason Seaman, told the IndyStar his brother was shot three times and is undergoing surgery after intervening in the shooting at Noblesville West Middle School. Seaman is a science teacher at the school and has also served as a football coach for seventh graders.

"It's not surprising, to be honest," Jeremy said of his brother's heroics. "He's not really ever been the person to run away. When the safety of the kids is at hand, it's not surprising to me that he was going to do what he had to do."

A male student asked to be excused from class, then returned with two handguns and opened fire, wounding Seaman and another student before being taken into custody, Noblesville police chief Kevin Jowitt said during a press conference.

"Our science teacher immediately ran at him, swatted a gun out of his hand and tackled him to the ground," Ethan Stonebraker, a seventh-grade student at the school, told The Associated Press. "If it weren't for him, more of us would have been injured for sure."

Seaman was a three-sport high school athlete in Mahomet, Ill. He's married with two young children.