Football coach Keanon Lowe from Oregon is being hailed a hero across the country after he tackled an armed high school student in an extremely amicable manner, preventing any kind of loss of life and property.
A recently-surfaced surveillance video from Parkrose High School shows Mr. Lowe and an unarmed security man disarming a student who came to the school with a loaded firearm.
In the video, an 18-year-old student, identified as Angel Granados-Diaz, can be seen entering the campus perimeter with a loaded shotgun in his hand, making a failed attempt to conceal it with something that appears to be a blanket or a bag.
The student then enters a room and the terrified students in the room run out to save their lives.
While people are fleeing the scene to save their lives, the tactful and brave football coach moves straight to the armed student, trying to distract his attention from would-be targets before disarming him in a very calm way.
Speaking to the media about his heroic deed, the coach said: “The door opens. I’m within arm’s length of the door, about 3 feet away from the door, and there’s a kid with a gun ― a shotgun. In a fraction of a second, I analyzed everything really fast.
“I saw the look in his face, look in his eyes, looked at the gun, realized it was a real gun and then my instincts just took over. I lunged for the gun, put two hands on the gun.”
The video then shows the tender moment when the brave coach hugs the student and tries to calm him down as he breaks down into tears and yells, “No one cares about me!”
He also says multiple times that he didn’t mean to hurt people. The coach engages the student in a relaxing dialogue until the police arrive at the scene to arrest him.
Mr. Lowe, who prevented an innocent student from becoming a school shooter and saved the lives of a number of students, spoke to a local media outlet, saying: “A lot of times, especially when you’re young, you don’t realize what you’re doing until it’s over, right?”
Angel, who’s 19 years old, pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm but he was not sentenced to serve time. He has to undergo necessary treatment for mental health and is on probation for the next 36 months.
Here is what Facebook users said of the incident:
Replaced!