President Obama tearfully remembers hero football player killed by gun violence

President Barack Obama became teary-eyed Tuesday afternoon as he recalled the story of Zaevion Dobson during a speech on gun control.

The 15-year-old Dobson, a star high school football player in Knoxville, Tenn., died last month shielding a trio of teenage girls from a hail of gunfire — an action that made him something of a national hero.

"He wasn’t in the wrong place at the wrong time, he hadn’t made a bad decision," President Obama said. "He was exactly where any other kid would be. Your kid. My kids. And then gunmen started firing."

Dobson shielded three girls from a hail of bullets in the tragic incident. Dobson was shot in the head and died at the scene, while the three girls he protected survived.

"He gave his life to save theirs," President Obama added. "An act of heroism a lot bigger than anything we should ever expect from a 15-year-old. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

Dobson was a sophomore at Fulton High School in northern Knoxville and was "a fine, fine young man," according to the school’s football coach Rob Black.

Regardless of your position on the issue of gun control, Zaevion Dobson's life is one worth remembering.