Keanon Lowe was heralded as a hero back in May when it was reported that he brought down a would-be school shooter
An Oregon prosecutor has released intense video of the high school football coach and security guard who disarmed and hugged a gun-wielding student earlier this year.
When the incident first occurred on May 17 at Parkrose High School in Portland, the police did not release the footage. But now, the District Attorney’s Office released the video on Friday, days after the student, Angel Granados-Diaz was sentenced to three years’ probation and is receiving treatment for mental health issues and substance abuse.
Keanon Lowe, the football coach and a former University of Oregon football star, said at the time that he had just walked into a classroom when he spotted the student in the doorway with a black shotgun.
“I saw the look on his face, the look in his eyes, I looked at the gun, I realized it was a real gun and then my instincts took over,” Lowe said.
Lowe lunged at Granados-Diaz, wrestling the weapon away from him as other students fled. The coach said he managed to pass the gun off to another teacher even as he held Granados-Diaz down in a bear hug until police arrived.
Video footage backs his story.
Keanon Lowe is the high school football coach who disarmed and then hugged a student wielding a shotgun at a Portland school.
No one was injured in the incident, and prosecutors said the investigation revealed that Granados-Diaz intended to harm only himself during the incident.
“It was emotional for him, it was emotional for me. In that time, I felt compassion for him. A lot of times, especially when you’re young, you don’t realize what you’re doing until it’s over,” Lowe said of the student. “I told him I was there to save him, I was there for a reason and this was a life worth living.”
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