{"id":197798,"date":"2026-04-15T08:46:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T08:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/197798\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T08:46:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T08:46:07","slug":"dramatic-moment-oklahoma-principal-kirk-moore-tackles-columbine-obsessed-school-shooter-while-being-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/197798\/","title":{"rendered":"Dramatic moment Oklahoma principal Kirk Moore tackles Columbine-obsessed school shooter while being shot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Heart-stopping video shows a heroic Oklahoma high school principal tackling a Columbine-obsessed ex-student moments after allegedly being shot<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kirk Moore, 60, charged at 20-year-old Victor Lee Hawkins, who was armed with two loaded semi-automatic pistols, in the lobby of Pauls Valley High School last Tuesday afternoon, according to surveillance footage obtained by KOCO<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Moore, the only person injured as Hawkins opened fire inside the school, was hailed for his bravery and preventing a tragedy of a much larger scale.<\/p>\n

School shooter Victor Lee Hawkins pointing his weapon at principal Kirk Moore KOCO 5 News \/ YouTube<\/p>\n

Moore, who was allegedly shot by the gunman, bravely tackled him onto a bench. KOCO 5 News \/ YouTube<\/p>\n

Hawkins allegedly told investigators he \u201cdidn\u2019t like Principal Moore\u201d and \u201cwent to the school to kill\u201d him. He ordered everyone to get onto the ground before trying to fire at one student in the lobby, court documents seen by KFOR<\/a> revealed.<\/p>\n

The crazed gunman\u2019s weapon malfunctioned before he aimed his pistol at another student, who begged him not to open fire. <\/p>\n

Moore, who has worked in the school district for more than 35 years, rushed to the school lobby to investigate the commotion.<\/p>\n

Hawkins was seen pointing his weapon at the Moore\u2019s head and firing a shot, which struck the educator\u2019s right leg, before he was tackled.<\/p>\n

The principal shoved the gunman toward a bench before getting on top of him, while the terrified student fled.<\/p>\n

Moore pinned down Hawkins\u2019 right hand, stopping him from firing his pistol before the weapon dropped onto the floor.<\/p>\n

Another adult male, wearing a red shirt and beige pants, sprinted into shot before helping Moore and kicking the gun away.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another staffer helped the principal. KOCO 5 News \/ YouTube<\/p>\n

The gunman dropped his weapon, which was picked up by the staffer. KOCO 5 News \/ YouTube<\/p>\n

Hunter McKee, of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, praised Moore and staffers for their quick-thinking response, saying, \u201cThe actions of the staff and the principal stepping in as soon as they saw a subject with a firearm saved lives today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brett Knight, the Pauls Valley Superintendent, described Moore as a \u201chero,\u201d the Oklahoman reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s actually been a mentor to me,\u201d he told 9News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was kinda (the) one that kind of helped me when I was first hired.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moore was hailed for his bravery. Pauls Valley High School<\/p>\n

Councilman Kahn Nirschl said he was \u201cso appreciative\u201d of Moore\u2019s intervention.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe undoubtedly saved lives today through his actions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hawkins admitted to stealing the guns from his dad and told investigators he \u201cwanted to conduct his own school shooting like the Columbine shooters did,\u201d referring to the 1999 massacre that left 14 victims dead.<\/p>\n

Hawkins told investigators he wanted to carry out a Columbine-like massacre. Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation<\/p>\n

The latest victim, Anne Marie Hochhalter<\/a>, who was left paralyzed after being shot, died in February last year.<\/p>\n

Hawkins has been charged with shooting with intent to kill and other firearm-related charges, and will appear in court on May 8.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Moore said he\u2019s \u201chealthy and recovering\u201d after being hospitalized.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Heart-stopping video shows a heroic Oklahoma high school principal tackling a Columbine-obsessed ex-student moments after allegedly being shot.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10,3028,37853,58],"class_list":["post-197798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-oklahoma","tag-school-shootings","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}