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School security guard: 'I'm not a hero, folks'

The Florida security guard who brought down a gunman during a school board meeting said Thursday that he was "no hero" and wasn't thinking about bullets or dying.
In this image taken from video and released by WJHG-TV, Clay A. Duke points a hand gun at Bay City school board members and staff on Tuesday.
In this image taken from video and released by WJHG-TV, Clay A. Duke points a hand gun at Bay City school board members and staff on Tuesday.AP
/ Source: msnbc.com staff and news service reports

The Florida security guard who confronted a gunman during a school board meeting said Thursday that he was "no hero" and wasn't thinking about bullets or dying.

His biggest fear, he said, was that he had let down his superintendent.

"I saw that first shot and I knew the superintendent fell backward," Mike Jones said during a press conference on Thursday. "I thought he'd killed him, that I'd let him down."

Jones, a 20-year police veteran, calmly, and at times tearfully, described the events leading up to Clay Duke taking his own life after firing at several school board members. Authorities said Duke, 56, was distraught that his wife had been fired by the school district earlier this year.

Jones said he was supposed to be on vacation but instead was at the building to be available to answer some security questions during the meeting.

"I’m not a hero folks," Jones said, adding, "I wasn't in this building five minutes and I was in a gun fight. It happened that quick."

Duke, an ex-con, fired repeatedly at board members, missing them by inches, then killed himself after exchanging gunfire with Jones. "He pulled the gun to his head and pulled the trigger," Jones said. 

Board members, who dove for cover, were not hurt.

"When the superintendent came up from behind that counter ... Just to see him (the superintendent) it was like seeing a newborn baby for the first time," Jones said.

The retired detective said he wants to forget the showdown that resulted in Duke's death and get back to his charitable efforts. Jones is well known in Panama City as "Salvage Santa" for his work providing Christmas gifts for needy children.

"My heart goes out to them (the Dukes) and I can't even imagine what their Christmas will be like," he said.

Msnbc.com's Sevil Omer and The Associated Press contributed to this report.