Keanon Lowe, Portland, Ore. high school football coach and the security guard who was heralded as a hero after he disarmed and hugged a gun-wielding student, is being honored by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society for his courageous actions.
According to the Hill, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society said that Lowe will receive the Single Act of Heroism Award for disarming a 19-year-old student who had walked on to the campus of Parkrose High School with a loaded shotgun last May.
“I saw the look on his face, the look in his eyes, I looked at the gun, I realized it was a real gun and then my instincts took over,” Lowe said last year, recalling how he lunged at the student, wrestling the weapon away before wrapping the student in a bear hug until police arrived.
No one was injured.
“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 realize 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.”
According to the Hill, Lowe will be one of six individuals and one organization who will be honored as Citizen Honors Award Honorees for 2020
“These six individuals and one organization exemplify the values embodied in the Medal of Honor: courage, sacrifice, commitment, integrity, citizenship, and patriotism,” the group said, according to the Hill.
Will the coronavirus pandemic stalling daily life and regular activities, the annual ceremony has been put on hold, but the group said it will honor the 2020 recipients at a later date.