38 Time December 23–30, 2019
HEROES
A COACH WHO
EMBRACED
AN ARMED
STUDENT
By Melissa ChanW
hen a disTressed
student appeared be-
fore him, armed with
a shotgun, Keanon
Lowe had no time to think. The foot-
ball and track coach at Parkrose High
School in Portland, Ore., lunged for
the firearm, as students knocked over
desks in panic. “It was a very sur-
real moment,” Lowe says, “all the
kids screaming for their lives.” After
a tug-of-war that seemed to last for-
ever, Lowe, 27, wrestled the gun out
of the student’s grasp. Then, in an un-
expected move, he pulled the student
in for a hug. “I didn’t see an evil kid,”
Lowe says. “I saw a kid that was going
through a lot.”
The student, identified by
authorities as 19-year-old Angel
Granados-Diaz, had been suicidal
for several months, according to
prosecutors, when he took the loaded
and legally bought shotgun to school
on May 17. Before Lowe intervened, the
teen had already tried killing himself
outside a bathroom, but the shotgun
did not discharge. “What he needed
was a shoulder to cry on and someone
to hug him,” says Lowe, who has been
coaching and serving as the school’s
security guard for the past two years.
“I don’t know the last time he got a
hug.” While Granados-Diaz resisted the
embrace at first and tried shoving Lowe
away, the coach’s comforting words
soon softened him. “I told him that I
cared about him and that I was there
for him and I was there to save him,”
Lowe says. “He was surprised that I had
said that. He said, ‘You do?’ and looked
me right in my face. I said, ‘Yes, I do.’
He gave in to the hug, and that made a
huge difference.”
Lowe and Granados-Diaz were
strangers until then, but they held
their embrace for at least 20 seconds,
as Lowe passed the shotgun to another
teacher. The moment, captured
by a security camera, moved tens
of thousands of people who saw
it on social media. “No one would
have batted an eye if he responded
more aggressively,” says the school’s
principal, Molly Ouche. “But he had
compassion.”
For his bravery and kindness,
Lowe was awarded a civilian medal of
heroism from Portland’s police chief,
and the city’s mayor declared May 29
to be “Coach Keanon Lowe Day of
Recognition.” The accolades have
been humbling and overwhelming,
says Lowe, who played football at the
University of Oregon. But he’s ready to
move on, mostly so Granados-Diaz can
do the same. On Oct. 10, Granados-Diaz
pleaded guilty to having a loaded
firearm in public and was sentenced to
36 months of formal probation, which
includes mental-health treatment.
According to prosecutors, his gun was
loaded with only one round, meant for
himself. It was evident that day that
the student was “fighting demons,”
Lowe says.
“This was just one moment in my
life that’s not going to define me,” he
adds. “And it’s not going to define
Angel as well.” □As temperatures fell below
20°F on Nov. 11, Nicole
Chamberlain, a bus driver
in Waukesha, Wis., peered
through her windshield and
saw two children wandering
alone outside, headed
toward a busy intersection.
“They were upset, frazzled,”
says Chamberlain, 44, who
pulled her bus over and
called out to them. When the
children—a 2-year-old girl
and her 6-year-old brother—
came bounding over,
Chamberlain realized neither
was wearing a coat and the
girl had on only a T-shirt
and a diaper. “It was mind-
blowing,” says Chamberlain,
who was captured on the
bus’s surveillance cameras
wrapping her coat around
the toddler’s bare legs.
Chamberlain stayed with the
children until police arrived,
along with the children’s
grandmother, who was
babysitting when they darted
out of the house. “It’s nice
to have a feel-good story to
share,” says Chamberlain.
After a fellow driver tipped
off a local news station to
the story, strangers from
all over the country agreed.
“You saw something amiss
and chose to step up to
prevent a potential tragedy,”
one wrote on her Facebook
page. “I hope your example
inspires others.”A bus driver
who brought kids
in from the cold