Phoenix high school teachers remember shooting victim

PHOENIX, AZ - Six years have passed since Alex Teves walked the halls at Desert Vista High School in Ahwatukee.

But the teachers and staff remember him as though he graduated just yesterday.

"He was just the nicest kid," said Maggie Fountain who taught Teves in Spanish class.

Fountain tells ABC15 Teves had all the qualities you'd want in a young man describing Teves as intelligent, kind and very hard working.

"It just hurts my heart because he had so much potential in front of him," said Fountain.

Another teacher released a statement to ABC15 that reads in part "Alex was a team player who loved super heroes..."

That love brought Teves to a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado early Friday morning to see the new Batman movie.

When the shooting started, investigators say Teves shielded his girlfriend from the bullets and, in so doing, gave his life for hers.

"Everything I've heard about Alex is positive," said Dr. Anna Battle, Principal of Desert Vista High School.  "His actions in Colorado were what we were able to experience at Desert Vista."

Dr. Battle says Teves' death caps an extremely difficult summer for Desert Vista.

The school lost two other students in addition to Teves in just the past few months.

"Losing children you are connected with whether you know them by name or not is tough," said Dr. Battle.

Alex Teves is a name his teachers say won't be forgotten.