Wife of slain Sparks, Nev., teacher speaks of love and loss

Michael and Sharon Landsberry celebrated their love and their fifth wedding anniversary Oct. 18.
Three days later, the Nevada mathematics teacher was dead after trying to reason with a 12-year-old boy, Jose Reyes, who opened fire at Sparks Middle School.

“Knowing why to me doesn’t matter. My husband laid down his life doing what he loved to do, and protecting the ones he loved,” Sharon Landsberry told NBC’s “Today” show in a segment broadcast Wednesday.

Landsberry has been praised as a hero for his actions in the Oct. 21 shooting, trying to talk to the boy who killed Landsberry, injured two other students then turned his weapon on himself and died. Dozens of students were in the school at the time and the toll could have been much higher if Landsberry hadn’t intervened, local officials have said.

“He has told everyone that everyone he loves and cared about, he would lay down his life for them, and that’s exactly what he did that day,” she said.

Sharon Landsberry spoke of love and grief in the wake of the tragedy that claimed her husband, a 45-year-old former Marine. The Landsberry family is grieving, but so is the family of the shooter, she said.

“I’m sorry they’ve lost their son,” Sharon Landsberry said. “And I know they’re hurting. But Mr. L. loved him no matter what, and I know his family does too.”

Michael Landsberry was a second father to Sharon’s two daughters, the widow said, a sentiment echoed by one of the children.

“He is my stepfather but to me he’s my dad,” Alisa Cook said, choking up with tears. “And he loved me and my sister so much.”

Sharon Landsberry said she and her husband exchanged “I love you’s” before her husband left for work the morning of the shooting and their love has prompted her to speak out in the wake of the tragedy.

“I wanted everyone to know how much he loved his country, his family, his students,” she said.

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