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Victim's brother: He loved teaching
02:21 - Source: CNN

Story highlights

His brother says the former Marine was someone who helped those in need

Mike Landsberry was a math teacher at Sparks Middle School

Sparks Mayor Geno Martini says the loss is "devastating"

In a Facebook memorial, posts describe him as a hero

CNN  — 

It didn’t surprise Reggie Landsberry that his brother was reportedly trying to stop a student with a handgun from shooting when he was killed.

Math teacher Mike Landsberry was killed in the shooting at Sparks Middle School by a student who brought a semiautomatic weapon. The student also wounded two 12-year-old students.

A witness told the Reno Gazette-Journal that Landsberry intervened at one point.

Reggie Landsberry said that his brother, like their father a former Marine, probably was trying to talk the gunman out of shooting.

“That was the kind of person that Michael was,” Reggie Landsberry said. “He was the kind of person that if somebody needed help he would be there.”

Reggie Landsberry said it was something they learned from their father, who served in the military for 22 years. His brother loved teaching and coaching at Sparks Middle School, he said.

“He was just a good all-around individual,” Reggie Landsberry said.

Mike Landsberry went to Afghanistan on several tours as a member of the Nevada Air National Guard, his brother said.

Sparks Mayor Geno Martini said it was a “devastating” loss.

“It’s very unfortunate that (the life of) someone like that, who protected our country over there and came back alive … had to be taken at his work, at a school,” Martini said.

Landsberry joined the Marine Corps in 1986, attained the rank of corporal and served as a field wireman, Marine spokeswoman Maj. Shawn Haney said.

On his school website, the teacher posted pictures of himself hiking in the wilderness and standing with a weapon beside an armored vehicle.

“One of my goals is to earn your respect while you earn mine,” he wrote in a message to students. “I believe that with mutual respect that the classroom environment will run smoothly.”

A Facebook memorial page posted in Landsberry’s honor had more than 2,000 likes by Monday evening.

Friends, former students and others described him there as a great teacher and a hero.

CNN’s Larry Shaughnessy, Amanda Watts and Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to this report.