Monique Lopez as “Oshkosh West student leads others to shelter to shelter in mosque after stabbing shooting” for Fox 11 News
In a Dec. 4, 2019, interview, Duaa Ahmad describes leading fellow Oshkosh West High School students to safety inside Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’s mosque following a stabbing and shooting at the school. (WLUK image)
During a terrifying, frantic moment, one Oshkosh West High School student stepped up to help her peers.
Moments after hearing a gunshot, Duaa Ahmad ran with her schoolmates across the street from the school, leading them into a mosque for shelter.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community mosque is across the street from Oshkosh West, but the mosque is usually locked, and you can’t get in, unless you’re a member.
“People have always taught me to help others first,” Ahmad said.
Cameras outside the mosque captured terrified teens darting from the school, seeking some sort of safety.
“We ran and we were all terrified for our lives,” Ahmad said. “We didn’t know what was happening and that just made the whole situation worse.”
Another video shows Ahmad racing in front of her classmates to the mosque’s front door.
“I was quite sure that I was the only person that knew the code in the general vicinity, so I just ran,” she said.
Ahmad quickly punched in the code and waved her classmates inside.
“It was all happening so fast and so spontaneous, you know, somebody like me wouldn’t even remember the code at that time,” said Ahmad’s father Saad.
The 17-year-old senior made sure more than 100 students with her were safe.
“We ran into the nearby mosque and they had us organized by our classes and everybody was crying,” a student said on Tuesday.
Even though it meant putting herself at risk.
“I was worried about the door being shut, as well, worried that people would be left outside,” Ahmad said.
Duaa’s father says it’s a day he’ll never forget.
“That one hour, when we did not know what was going on was very stressful,” Saad Ahmad said.
And a day he has never been more proud of his daughter.
“To do that, with so many kids many of them she has no idea who they are, so I was quite impressed, and I was proud of her,” he said.
The unselfish act showing heroes don’t always wear capes.
“That’s just how I’ve been raised,” Duaa Ahmad said.
Sometimes they wear hijabs.