Vigil for Dix Hills native killed in Parkland postponed to March 14

A candlelight vigil for Scott Beigel, the teacher and Long Island native fatally shot while trying to save his students during last month’s school massacre in Florida, has been postponed a week because of the nor’easter expected on the Island.

Plans were for Beigel to be honored Wednesday with a candlelight vigil on the Veterans Plaza at Huntington Town Hall, but the gathering will instead take place at that location next Wednesday, March 14, at 4:30 p.m., town spokeswoman Lauren Lembo said.

Beigel, 35, who grew up in Dix Hills and graduated from Half Hollow Hills High School East, was one of 17 people killed Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. A 19-year-old former student has been charged in the massacre.

News reports said Beigel, a social studies teacher at the school for about six months, was shot while trying to lock a door to a classroom full of students — potentially saving them from the gunman.

Beigel’s parents, Linda and Michael Schulman, and other family members who live on Long Island are to be among the 500 to 1,000 expected to attend the vigil, officials said.

“We want to honor his heroic actions here in Huntington,” Town Supervisor Chad Lupinacci said Sunday. “It’s very important that as a community we come together and pay tribute and honor his sacrifice.”

Beigel, who attended Farmingdale State College before transferring to the University of Florida, also worked as a youth counselor at Camp Starlight in Pennsylvania and had volunteered in South Africa.

Half Hollow Hills Superintendent Patrick Harrigan and other school officials are expected to attend the vigil, which is likely to be live-streamed on the town’s website, officials said.

With Nicole Fuller