Keanon Lowe is being celebrated as a hero all over again after surveillance video surfaced of his astonishing act of bravery.
The ex-college football star is shown taking a shotgun from a high school student before holding him in his arms in vision obtained through a public records request byKOIN 6 News in Portland.
Lowe, who played as a wide receiver at Oregon, said he had just entered a classroom at the Portland high school where he works as a coach and security guard when an armed student appeared in the doorway back in May.
The 27-year-old had just seconds to react. He lunged at the gunman and wrestled with him for the weapon as other students ran screaming out a back door.
Lowe said he managed to get the gun away from the student and pass it to a teacher while Lowe held down the student with his other hand. Lowe wrapped the student in a bear hug until police arrived.
Keanon Lowe, who tackled a gunman at an Oregon high school in May 2019, poses with the Portland Trail Blazers mascot. Photo / Getty Images
"I saw the look on his face, the look in his eyes, I looked at the gun, I realised it was a real gun and then my instincts just took over," Lowe, 27, said.
"I lunged for the gun, put two hands on the gun and he had his two hands on the gun and obviously the students are running out of the classroom."
Lowe, who is head football and track coach at Parkrose High School, said he had a few moments with the teenager, who was distraught, before police arrived.
"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 realise what you're doing until it's over," Lowe said.
"I told him I was there to save him, I was there for a reason and this was a life worth living."
Reports at the time claimed the gunman, 19-year-old Angel Granados-Diaz, never pointed the gun at any students and may have intended to take his own life.
He was given a three-year probation sentence after pleading guilty to unlawful possession of a loaded firearm in a public building in October.
Lowe was hailed for his compassion when the video went viral on Saturday.
"So insanely powerful," wrote local journalist Taylor Graham. "Keanon Lowe disarmed a student who brought a gun to school in May with so much compassion."
"I have not been this moved in a very long time," Portland Trail Blazers courtside reporter Brooke Olzendam added. "Impossible to not get emotional watching this. We called him a hero then, but after seeing this I'm not sure there is even a word worthy of him. Thank you."
"Calm, compassionate, loving," wrote Pac-12 Network's Ashley Adamson. "Keanon Lowe showing the exact opposite of every human instinct in a terrifying moment. This is incredible."
