'He was just looking at me': Teacher shares the moments that led to her disarming Fuquay-Varina Middle School student who fired gun in school

But for Lynn Guilliams, a language arts teacher at Fuquay-Varina middle, that fear became reality last week.

Guilliams lives in Johnston County, but makes the hour long commute to Fuquay-Varina Middle School every morning; She does it, she says, out of love for her job and her students.

Guilliams said she never heard the gunshot - just the screams of other teachers, telling her to get out of the hall and into her classroom.

"I grabbed all the kids that were in the hallway and I was saying to them, 'I don't know what's going on, but as soon as I do, I'll let you know.' So I turned around, and I was shooing the students into the corners so they could get away from the windows and into the corners," said Guilliams. "There was one student sitting in his assigned seat, and he was just looking at me. And I said, 'come on, you need to get in the corner,' and he bent down and picked up a gun."

Guilliams said that student, who police have only identified as a 12-year-old, never threatened her or pointed the gun at anyone.

"I said 'What is that?' knowing full well what it was. And he said, 'A gun,'" said Guilliams. "I said 'You stay right there. I'm taking it right now,' and I walked over, and took it away from him. He didn't fight me."

As she took the gun away, she said she smelled gunpowder.

"I said, 'Why does it smell?" and he pointed directly behind him and said, 'I just shot the window.'"

Only then did Guilliams notice the hole, and the shattered glass.; The gun had been fired just moments before she and her students rushed in.

Guilliams asked him why and and he told her, "Because I hate this school and everything in it."

Guilliams said she stayed with the student until police arrived and thinks the bullet hole was a cry for help.

"I believe if he had truly wanted to harm a person, or persons, he had plenty of opportunity," said Guilliams. "He didn't."

That 12-year-old student was taken into custody and has been served with a juvenile petition.

Seth Lanterman-Schneider, a 39-year-old from Willow Spring, was charged for failing to properly store the gun used in the shooting.

Friday, school leaders gave students the day off, to give them time to process what happened.

Monday they were back in class, but not Guilliams; She said she needs time - and therapy - before she's willing to step back into that room.

And that more needs to be done to keep days like Thursday from happening.

"As a society, as Americans, we need to do better," said Guilliams. "We need to do better, and we need to do more."

Guilliams said the real problem here, is that teachers and schools are asked to do more with less, as teachers deal with overcrowded classrooms, with far too few resources for students, including counselors and nurses, who could help make a difference.

Guilliams said terrifying moments like this will only keep happening, unless that starts to change.