Lewis Mizen, who moved to Parkland, Florida, with his family from Coventry in 2009, told the Sun he instantly knew the killer was 'weirdo' Nikolas Cruz
A BRIT student told yesterday how he hid to escape being shot in the Valentine’s Day school massacre.
Lewis Mizen crammed with 19 classmates in a closet as Nikolas Cruz slaughtered 17 victims.
He heard noises from outside the tiny locked room and realised the gunman could be inches from him.
Lewis, 17, told The Sun: “My heart was racing, my adrenaline was rising and my stomach dropped.
If we opened that door and it was the shooter behind it then my life was on the line along with the lives of my friends. It was terrifying.”
The door opened but to their relief it was Swat team cops who had come to rescue them at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Lewis, who moved to Parkland, Florida, with his family from Coventry in 2009, said: “We had all been hiding under desks in the closet.
People were comforting one another and trying to remain calm.
“In the closet I lost reception. So I didn’t really know for sure what was going on.
“After about an hour there were noises outside the door.
"We heard the door open and someone walk in.”
He added: “In Britain the worst that can happen is a fire drill. Here they have guns. Children die at school.”
He was a weirdo. You didn’t want to offend him.”
Fighting back tears, Lewis’s mum Lisa, 48, said: “We were texting Lewis and then nothing. We didn’t know he had lost reception.
“All we knew was there was a shooter and we couldn’t get hold of him. It was an indescribable feeling. Like suffocating.”
Lewis’s brother Mitch, 15, would have been in the same class many were killed if Lisa and dad David, 55, had sent him to that school.
Cruz, 19, is charged with 17 murders. He also injured 14.
THE FBI last night admitted it ignored a tip-off that Nikolas Cruz might carry out a school shooting.
Bosses said someone close to the killer rang a public tip line on January 5 to reveal his “gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behaviour, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting”.
The vital info should have been passed to the Miami bureau office but there was “no further investigation”.
FBI director Christopher Wray apologised but Florida governor Rick Scott called on him to resign.
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