The math teacher widely hailed as a hero in protecting students in the Florida mass shooting last month has been called “cowardly” by his students, some of who claimed he locked his students out of the classroom during the rampage.

Jim Gard gave multiple interviews on TV after the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, describing how he protected his students in the classroom during the horrific tragedy that left 17 dead. 

At least two of Gard’s students contested his claims on their Twitter accounts, saying that the teacher is the opposite of a hero.

According to Josh Gallagher’s post, he and his classmates evacuated from the classroom when the fire alarm went off. They rushed back after hearing gunshots only to find the door locked, “which then left me and 15 other students in the hallways ducking as screams of classmates and gunshots took over the noise around me.”

He went on to say they were left in fear for four minutes before they were allowed in another classroom to hide. “He left 75% of his students out in the hallway to be slaughtered. How can a man such as him be viewed as a hero in the media?”

Meanwhile, Connor Dietrich wrote, “As one of the kids left in the hallway, I want people to understand how terrifying and defenseless I personally felt. The person I had to rely on left us to die, and that’s not okay.”

In response to the accusations, Gard said that what he did was in line with school protocol which requires teachers to keep doors locked during an active shooter drill or real emergency, according to USA Today.

Security expert Steve Kardian told CBS that the teacher did the right thing. “The policy and procedure of most the schools that I know of is to keep the door closed. Once it’s closed, once you are sheltered, you don’t go near the door, you don’t open the door up. It is a [hard] decision for a teacher to make to not to open that door, but the rule is, shut the door, leave it shut, and until the authorities come and you open.”

Another teacher, meanwhile, admitted in the interview that she broke protocol and let all students come into her classroom.