By Jasmine Washington, Ebony
Football coach and security guard Keanon Lowe is being heralded a hero after disarming a student carrying a shotgun at Portland’s Parkrose High School on Friday. The football coach recounted the incident Sunday during an appearance on Good Morning America.
According to Lowe, he was asked to come to the fine arts building following a “regular call to go grab a student.”
He said, “I’m in the classroom for 15 or 20 seconds, and the door opens and there’s a student with a shotgun.”
About what happened next, he said, “Everything happened so fast. It was the longest fraction of a second of my life.”
Lowe revealed how he managed to disarm the student. “I lunged for the gun and we both had the gun,” he explained. “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 struggle continued until Lowe managed to subdue the student. “So I end up getting the gun from him, getting the gun with my right hand and holding him off with my left hand and calling for a teacher to come grab the gun,” he said.
Police recovered the firearm, and the student was taken into custody.
Proud of his actions, he said, “I was called upon, and I just reacted. Like I said, instincts kicked in and I was able to make something good out of something that could have been very, very tragic.”
Despite the frightening encounter, Lowe said he’s excited to get back to school. “I thank God that no one got hurt, and I thank God that I was in that room.”
This article originally appeared in Ebony.
