PORTLAND — Police released the identity Saturday of an 18-year-old student who was tackled after reportedly bringing a gun into classroom at an Oregon high school.
The Portland Police Bureau said Angel Granados Dias had been booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on suspicion of possessing a firearm in a public building, attempting to shoot a gun at a school and reckless endangerment.
Authorities say he is a student at Parkrose High School, where he brought the shotgun Friday. Witnesses told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he appeared distraught when he appeared at the door to their government class and pulled the weapon from beneath a long black trench coat, and that a football and track coach who also works security at the school, Keanon Lowe, tackled him before anyone got hurt. Lowe is a former football standout at the University of Oregon.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Granados Dias had a lawyer. He was being held on $500,000 bail and was scheduled to appear in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Monday. There were no other suspects.
In a letter to families Friday evening, Parkrose School District Superintendent Michael Lopes Serrao said two students had informed a staff member of “concerning behavior” by the student who brought the gun. Security staff then responded, found him and quickly disarmed him, he said.
“Thanks to their heroic efforts all students and staff are safe,” Lopes Serrao wrote.
Lowe told reporters as he was leaving a police interview Friday he was tired but relieved at the outcome, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
“I’m just happy everyone was OK,” Lowe said. “I’m happy I was able to be there for the kids and for the community.”
On Twitter on Saturday afternoon, Lowe said “I’m blessed to be alive and extremely happy that the students are safe. I’m not sure what’s next, I haven’t had the time to really think about it. But I am sure I want to be a part of the solution to school gun violence.”
He said he took his job, “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.
“When confronted with the test the universe presented me with, I didn’t see any other choice but to act. Thank God, I passed. I’ve spent the last 24 hours being more appreciative of my family and realizing we have a serious problem.”
Police spokesman Sgt. Brad Yakots said the first responding officers found the gunman being detained by the staff member in the hallway. A firearm was recovered at the school, he added.
Parkrose was evacuated and a nearby middle school was on lockdown for several hours as the investigation unfolded. The high school students were bused to a nearby parking lot where they were reunited with their parents.
The outcome was “the best-case scenario, absolutely,” Yakots said. “The staff member did an excellent job by all accounts, (and) our officers arrived within minutes and went right in.”
Story cited here.