A potential shootout and suicide attempt at an Oregon high school in May which was prevented by a school coach has been captured on surveillance camera.
Keanon Lowe, a football and track coach and security guard at Portland’s Parkrose High School, was able to disarm an 18-year-old who came to the school with a loaded shotgun, to take his life.
On May 17, Angel Granados-Diaz, was feeling dejected over the collapse of a romantic relationship, landed up at the school to do something really bad.
Footage shows Lowe, a former wide receiver for the University of Oregon Ducks, holding the shotgun he had taken away from Granados-Diaz in one hand. The other hand was firmly around the student’s shoulder as he drew the teen in for a close embrace.
Lowe took the firearm to a nearby staff member and gave his attention completely to Granados-Diaz. He tried his best to break loose but Lowe clung on, holding him tightly and moving him down the hallway, far from the classroom where he planned to end his life.
The shotgun had just one round and Granados-Dias told authorities he intended to take his life. He did not want to kill himself at home where his mom would find the body.
Watch the breathtaking moment: When a school football coach stops a student with shotgun.
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“I saw the look in his face, look in his eyes, looked at the gun, realized it was a real gun, and then my instincts just took over,” Lowe said.
Lowe wrote on Twitter, “When I signed up to be a Security Guard, Football and Track & Field Coach for Parkrose High School, I did so to guide and coach young people whose shoes I had once been in,” Lowe wrote.
He said, “I had no idea, that I would one day have to put my life on the line like I did yesterday for my students.”
When I signed up to be a Security Guard, Football and Track & Field Coach for Parkrose High School, I did so to guide and coach young people whose shoes I had once been in. I had no idea, that I would one day have to put my life on the line like I did yesterday for my students.
— Keanon Lowe (@KeanonLowe) May 18, 2019
Lowe said that when he signed up to be a Security Guard, Football and Track & Field Coach for Parkrose High School, he did it so that he could guide and coach young people but he had no idea that he would have to put his life on the line for a students.
Granados-Diaz, now 19, was sentenced on Oct. 10 to 3 years of probation and mental health treatment. He has been in jail for the last 5 months and was expected to be released in a few days.