Derek Jeter calls mom of slain Sandy Hook Elementary School teacher

Holly Bailey
·National Correspondent

Victoria Soto, the 27-year-old Sandy Hook Elementary School teacher who was shot and killed as she tried to protect her class of first-graders last week, was praised as a “superhero” as she was laid to rest on Wednesday.

But it was a phone call from one of Soto's personal heroes that brightened what was an otherwise dreadful day for the slain teacher’s family.

Just hours after Soto’s funeral, her mother, Donna Soto, received a phone call from New York Yankees star Derek Jeter offering his condolences.

“Derek Jeter just called my mom!!!!!” Soto’s sister, Carlee, posted on Twitter. “This meant a lot to my mother and all of us.”

The Soto family declined to say what Jeter had said. But the phone call came just hours after Soto was remembered for, among other things, being a rabid Yankees fan.

The singer-songwriter Paul Simon sang at Soto’s funeral, performing “The Sounds of Silence,” which family members said was one of the teacher’s favorite songs.