Authorities say the suspect, a 20-year-old former student, arrived at the school intending a mass killing. Moore’s immediate intervention stopped the attack before additional shots were fired.
Pauls Valley High School Principal Kirk Moore tackled and disarmed a gunman who entered the school lobby and opened fire on April 7, security video released by the district shows. Moore was shot in the leg during the attack but managed to wrestle the suspect onto a bench and remain on top of him until law enforcement arrived, court records show. No students were injured.
Authorities say the suspect, Victor Lee Hawkins, 20, a former student, arrived at the school intending a mass killing. Moore’s immediate intervention halted the attack before additional shots were fired.
What the video shows
The video, released by the school district in response to an Open Records Act request, shows a person wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt enter the school and point a handgun at two students in the lobby. After the gunman fires, Moore rushes toward him, tackles him, and wrestles him to the ground while the students flee. A second school employee then enters the frame, kicks the gun away, picks it up, and removes it from the area.
“The actions of the staff and the principal stepping in as soon as they saw a subject with a firearm saved lives today,” Hunter McKee, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, said after the shooting.
In a statement shared on social media, Moore said: “I look forward to returning to work as soon as possible so that I may continue my life’s work educating the next generation of Oklahoma leaders.”
Charges and alleged motive
Authorities arrested Hawkins and charged him with unlawfully carrying a firearm, shooting with intent to kill, and pointing a firearm.
According to an OSBI affidavit, Hawkins told investigators he went to the school planning to kill students, Moore, and then himself in a mass shooting “like the Columbine shooters did” — a reference to the 1999 attack in Littleton, Colorado, in which 12 students and a teacher were killed.
Hawkins has pleaded not guilty. His court-appointed attorney, Tyson Stanek, declined to comment on the charges, citing policies of the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System. Garvin County Detention Center records show Hawkins is being held on $1 million bond.
Pauls Valley is a community of about 6,000 people located 60 miles south of Oklahoma City.