The teacher who stopped the attack on Gilbert

In January 2008, 16-year-old Angel Facio stabbed Elgin High School teacher Carolyn Gilbert. She survived, but was seriously injured. Facio talked recently for the first time about attacking his teacher. Daily Herald Staff Writer Kerry Lester previously wrote a three-part series about Gilbert and her physical and emotional recovery. You can read the 2009 Gilbert series here. Below is some of the paper's earlier coverage of the attack.

He shouldn't have been there.

Mike Gannon, a 21-year Elgin High teaching veteran, was letting students finish up a computer programming exam a little after 11 a.m. Jan. 18, 2008, several minutes after they were supposed to hand in their papers.

#8220;If I'd left when the bell rang, I wouldn't have been there at all,#8221; he says of interrupting Angel Facio's attack on Carolyn Gilbert.

#8220;But the kids were dawdling about getting their work in, and I'm sort of softhearted. I said, #8216;OK, I'll sit here and do some paperwork.'#8221;

That's when he heard the scream that made his stomach lurch.

#8220;If you have kids, you know the difference when they just cry and when they're hurt,#8221; Gannon, of Belvidere, said. #8220;I knew something was wrong.#8221;

Gannon told his students to stay put, and he went into the hallway to see what was going on. No one was there.

He heard another scream and realized it was coming from the room next door #8212; Carolyn Gilbert's classroom.

Entering the room, it wasn't immediately clear who the 16-year-old student was attacking, having pinned his victim to the ground.

Gannon's first action was to get Facio to drop his knife and get off the woman.

He backed Facio into a desk in the classroom and shouted at him not to move.

As he did so, the woman grabbed hold of him for support, pulling herself up and out of the room. He then realized it was Gilbert.

#8220;The whole thing was a complete surprise. One surprise after another to my senses,#8221; he said.

After securing Facio, Gannon did as he'd been trained, hitting the room's red emergency button and calling the front office through the intercom.

As he stepped out into the hallway to check on Gilbert, he saw Lynn Kronvold, a member of Gilbert's department, running down the hall to help. Assistant Principal Alan Flota, a dean's assistant, and the school's police liaison officer also arrived within seconds.

Gannon watched the officer handcuff Facio and take him away. Gilbert was taken to Sherman Hospital.

#8220;My part of it at that point was done,#8221; Gannon said.

Throughout the ordeal, Gannon said he was never afraid that Facio would pick up the knife and begin attacking him, too.

#8220;These are children,#8221; Gannon said. #8220;No matter how big they get, they just think and act like children. Teachers, we're all trained, to take command of a classroom. To me that's not extraordinary. We're all used to handling situations.#8221;

What did scare him was the thought of what could have been.

Friday was the only day of first semester exams when he was in that classroom at that hour.

For months after the attack, Gannon had trouble sleeping, frequently waking up from nightmares in which he arrived too late.

#8220;The idea that he could have killed her just haunts me,#8221; he said.

Elgin Area School District U-46 Safety Coordinator John Heiderscheidt came to talk to Gannon, explaining the post-traumatic stress that he'd feel.

#8220;Once I knew that it was going to get better, that helped,#8221; he said. #8220;Each day I face kids, I don't think about it anymore. It's only in a couple of weak moments when it's late and I'm tired it sort of creeps up on me.#8221;