Former football coach credited with stopping school shooting in Washington
Brady Olson, a former assistant football coach and Government and Civics teacher at North Thurston HS (WA), is credited with heroically stopping a school shooting yesterday before things turned deadly.
According to KOMONews and local reports, just before 7:30am yesterday, police were called to the high school after a 16- year old student pulled out a revolver and fired two shots. Olson intervened by tackling the the student from behind, and two other staff members quickly joined to hold the shooter down.
Of the two shots, one went to the ceiling and the other ended up in the hallway. Thanks to the quick thinking from Olson and the staff, no one was hurt.
Olson later released a statement through the district, and in true hero fashion, deflected praise to those around him.
"I would like to say how happy I am that everyone is safe after today's incident. I would also like to take this opportunity to praise all the police agencies that were involved, especially our Student Resource Officer, (SRO) Ed McClanahan. All agencies responded quickly and acted with the utmost professionalism."
"Additionally, I would like to say thank you to an amazing staff here at North Thurston High School. From administrators to teachers, all reacted to a very intense situation with incredible tact and professionalism. No one, including myself, can prepare for a situation like this, so I'm very thankful that we're all okay."
"As always, students come first, and today was no different. I reacted in a way that any other teacher would react and at the sound of a gunshot had three other adults, including Tim Brown, dean of students, Principal Steve Rood, and security officer, Jim Beltico, going toward the sound of gunfire rather than away."
"We will all group together as a staff and community, like we always do, and continue to put kids first! North Thurston High School's staff handled this like every other staff in every city, in every state, across this country would. I'm incredibly proud to be a member of the bigger community of educators who teach and take care of our kids every day."
Our hats go off to coach Olson for his courage and quick thinking in light of a situation that could have ended up much, much worse.
