A high school football coach from Oregon who stopped a possible school shooting by disarming the gunman will be given the Congressional Medal of Honor citizen distinction for heroism, for his actions that fateful day.
Fox News reported that the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation said that Keanon Lowe, a former wide receiver at the University of Oregon, and five other honorees “exemplify the values embodied in the Medal of Honor.”
Keanon Lowe saved a life the day he took a gun away from a young student and then hugged him in the halls of the Oregon high school where he coached football. For his bravery and compassion, Lowe will receive a Congressional Medal of Honor Citizen Honor. https://t.co/Qh9htQCU5C
— CNN (@CNN) March 31, 2020
Lowe was teaching track and field at Parkrose High School in Portland in May of last year when he made the selfless decision to disarm a distraught student who was carrying a gun in the building.
He then comforted the student, who was later revealed to be Angel Granados Diaz, until authorities arrived on the scene.
“I let him know that I was there for him. I told him I was there to save him,” Lowe told KATU-TV last year. “I was there for a reason, and this is a life worth living.”
“I lunged for the gun and we both had the gun,” Lowe later added of the actual take down.
“We had four hands on the gun and students are running out of the back of the classroom and I’m just trying to make sure that the end of the gun isn’t pointing towards where the students are running but also not pointed at myself.”
The Oregonian reported that police later concluded that Diaz had mental health issues that led him to want to hurt himself.
Thankfully, Diaz took action before he was able to harm himself or anyone else. Diaz has since been sentenced to three years probation and mental health treatment.
Keanon Lowe, the former Oregon wide receiver who disarmed a student that brought a gun to Parkrose High School in Portland, has been awarded the Citizen Honor Award by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society https://t.co/riCt05Lx6z
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) March 31, 2020
The Single Act of Heroism Award will be given to both Lowe and Riley Howell, the 21 year-old UNC Charlotte student who tragically lost his life when he tackled a gunman at his school.
Howell was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart and Bronze Star by the Purple Heart Society.
This piece originally appeared in UpliftingToday.com and is used by permission.
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