Fla. Shooting Hero: I Was Just Doing My Job

He says he isn't a hero. But anyone who saw what happened during that terrifying shootout at a school board meeting in Florida would disagree. Mike Jones is the security guard who stopped the gunman in his tracks. Jones told Katie Couric his story and said he was just doing his job when he put himself in the line of fire.

Katie Couric: Joining us now is Mike Jones from Panama City. I know you spent the night in the hospital. How are you feeling today?

Mike Jones: I'm doing fine today. I've got a lot of mixed emotions, you know. Taking the life of someone, and visiting here in the room where I'm sitting now and where it all took place. We're getting there. We're fine. I'm going to be okay.

Couric: How does it feel sitting in that room?

Jones: It's not really bad because, you know, they train us and they tell us the things to expect when you're in a shootout and doing those things, and everything they taught us is true. It's kind of like tunnel vision and you block everything out, and you'll usually remember one or two things and they're right. There's one thing they keep remembering, and i keep seeing it over and over, and it upsets me every time I think.

Couric: What is that one thing?

Jones: When the shooting started, I saw the superintendent fall backwards in the chair. The man had the gun pointed at him, and you want to think you hear these big explosions. And you don't. You just hear, "pop-pop-pop-pop." And the superintendent stood up from behind the counter and that's when I lost it. I went to my knees and started crying and he was alive. And I had thought I let him down and let him die. And I can't get that out of my mind. That's the picture I keep remembering.

Couric: You weren't even supposed to be working, I understand, that day. How did you happen to be there?

Jones: Yes, ma'am. I was -- well you know, in Florida, we don't take kindly to cold weather, and we had a major cold front coming through here, like in the teens, and so my boss asked me if I would stay Monday and Tuesday in case we had water outages and things like that. I said, okay I will work Monday and Tuesday, no problem.

Couric: Who would have been there if you hadn't?

Jones: Nobody. By the grace of God that I was not on vacation and I came here. It's -- it's miraculous what happened here, the lives that were spared.

Couric: You said earlier today Mike, "I shot the man in the back the first time and I was thinking I was going to go to jail." Were you really worried about that?

Jones: After the shooting, all those things run through your mind. It was, like, am I going to go to jail because I shot him in the back the first time? And then what is my church going to think of me? And, yeah, all those things go through your mind, you know, what's this going to do to my family, my wife? And that was the only thing I could think of right then is I wanted to talk to my wife.

Couric: So this will be a special holiday for you, won't it?

Jones: It will. It's one I'll never forget. And I try not to think about -- try not to think about the deceased. His family's without him, but at the same time, I'm with my family and my fellow board members and my boss, Superintendent Husfelt. He's here and I'm grateful for that. My heart goes out to the family.

Couric: Mike Jones is busy tonight continuing his holiday tradition. For the past 27 years he's been buying new toys and repairing old ones to deliver to needy children.

More on Florida School Board Meeting Shooting:

School Board Shooter Led Troubled Life
Fla. Shooter's Wife Says Husband 'Misunderstood'
School Board Shooting Caught on Tape
School Board Target: "God Blocked the Bullet"
School Board Survivor Whacks Shooter with Purse