Dramatic video shows the principal of an Oklahoma high school tackling and disarming a former student who entered the school lobby and began firing a gun.
Pauls Valley High School Principal Kirk Moore was shot in the leg during the April 7 attack, but managed to wrestle the suspect to a bench, disarm him and stay on top of him until police arrived, according to court records.
The video, released by the school district in response to a request under the Open Records Act, shows a person in a dark hooded sweatshirt enter the school and point a gun at two students in the lobby. After the attacker fires the gun, Moore lunges at him, knocking him down and disarming him as the students flee. Another school official then enters the frame and kicks the gun away before picking it up and taking it away.
No students were injured in the attack.
“The actions of the staff and director, intervening as soon as they saw a subject with a firearm, saved lives today,” said Hunter McKee, spokesman for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
In a statement shared on social media, Moore said: “I look forward to returning to work as soon as possible so I can continue my life’s work educating the next generation of Oklahoma leaders.”
Authorities arrested Victor Lee Hawkins, 20, a former student at the school, who has been charged with unlawfully carrying a firearm, shooting with intent to kill and pointing a firearm.
Hawkins told investigators that he went to the school with plans to kill students, Moore and then himself in a mass shooting “like the Columbine shooters did,” a reference to the 1999 school shooting in Colorado that left 12 students and a teacher dead, according to an investigative office affidavit.
Hawkins has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges. His public defender, Tyson Stanek, declined to comment on the charges, citing Oklahoma Indigent Defense System policies.
Garvin County Detention Center records show Hawkins remains in custody on $1 million bail.
Pauls Valley is a community of about 6,000 people, 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of Oklahoma City.
