New video shows shocking moment football coach disarms shotgun-wielding student
A newly video released surveillance video shows the heart-stopping moment a high school football teacher disarmed a gun-wielding student before embracing him in a hug.
The footage details the minutes before and after Angel Granados-Diaz, a 19, entered the fine arts building at Parkrose High School in Portland, Ore., with a shotgun wrapped under his jacket on May 17.
Granados-Diaz was confronted by Keanon Lowe, a football coach and security guard at the school. Lowe told TODAY he realized what was happening shortly after encountering the student.
"The look in his eyes," Lowe, a former wide receiver at the University of Oregon, said. "I looked at the gun, and I realized it was a real gun and then my instincts just took over."
Initial reports from the incident stated that Lowe wrestled Granados-Diaz to the ground, but the new footage shows he took a markedly different approach. The coach can be seen approaching Granados-Diaz and taking his gun, which he then hands to another teacher. After that, Lowe pulls the 19-year-old in for a hug.
“I just wanted to let him know that I was there for him. I told him I was there to save him. I was there for a reason and that this is a life worth living," Lowe told TODAY.
Granados-Diaz can be seen trying to break free at one point, but Lowe holds him tightly. Eventually, police arrived to arrest the student.
The 19-year-old pleaded guilty to two charges related to the case last week and was sentenced to 36 months of probation, during which he will also receive mental health and substance abuse counseling. Investigations into the student's motives showed he had little desire to harm other individuals, prosecutors said.
Lowe, meanwhile, has been praised as a hero ever since May. Portland police described the coach's handling of the situation as a "best-case scenario."
"The staff members from all accounts did an excellent job," Portland Police Sergeant Brad Yakots said at the time.
For his part, Lowe felt as though his presence at the scene was more than just luck.
"I feel like I was put in that room for a reason. The shooter didn't know that I was in that room when he opened the door and I think there are things in my life that have prepared me for that very moment," Lowe told "Good Morning America." "I thank God that no one got hurt and I thank God I was in that room."
