Florida school shooting: Honour for murdered cadet

A teenage army cadet, who died helping other students flee to safety during the Florida school shooting, has been posthumously accepted into a top military academy.

Peter Wang, 15, was shot dead, reportedly while wearing his US Army Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROC) uniform last Wednesday.

He was last spotted holding a door open for other students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

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"He was pointing the door open for other people to escape and then he was struck by the bullets," classmate and friend Aiden Ortiz told ABC.

"I want people to know he died a hero. He died saving many people."

And the prestigious West Point Academy – a training college for future US armed forces officers -  tweeted it had posthumously accepted Peter.

“Peter Wang’s actions on February 14 are an example of those principles & the academy honors his dream of being a West Point cadet with a 2025 letter of acceptance,” the academy tweeted.

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Peter was one of three freshmen members of the Junior ROTC program at the school who was killed.

The academy plans to present his family with a letter of admission, the Sun Sentinel reports.

Florida’s National Guard has also been reportedly directed by the state’s governor to honour Peter and two other JROTC members  - Alaina Petty and Martin Duque - at their funerals.

The trio have also been posthumously awarded the US Army’s Medal of Heroism.

The suspected gunman, Nikolas Cruz, was a former JROTC cadet.