High School Coach Disarms Shooter; Then Hugs Him: Watch
Surveillance video released yesterday from an Oregon high school shows a football coach disarming a student with a loaded shotgun, and then hugging him afterwards.
The incident happened last May at Parkrose High School, where football coach Keanon Lowe is seen moving 18-year-old Angel Granados-Diaz away from the gun, which he hands over to a teacher. Lowe, also a security guard for the school, then turns and hugs the student, who begins to cry. The two share an embrace for close to 10 minutes, before Lowe sits down with Granados-Diaz as they wait for the police to arrive.
Lowe told reporters at a press conference that he went to a classroom to get a student, then realizing an armed student was just steps away from him. “I felt compassion for the kid, to be honest,” Lowe said. “Obviously, he broke down and I just wanted to let him know that I was there for him. I told him I was there to save him. I was there for a reason and that this is a life worth living.”
Reports say that a judge handed down a 36-month probation sentence under a pretrial agreement for Angel Granados-Diaz. Check out the viral and heartwarming clip (below). This coach a hero.