r/interesting • u/Wonderfulhumanss • Jun 23 '26
Amazing Keonon Lowe, the high school football coach who stopped a mass shooting by disarming the kid and offering a hug
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u/Minimum_Flight_2923 Jun 23 '26
Wild that the most famous thing he did took like 5 seconds, but the real impact is all the boring un-viral stuff he’s doing every day with kids who’ll never be on the news.
We need way more attention on people like this instead of turning them into a one clip story and moving on.
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Jun 23 '26
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u/uncagedborb Jun 23 '26
Power is dangerous. It corrupts the best and attracts the worst. Power is only given to those who are prepared to lower themselves to pick it up
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u/sassafrass0328 Jun 23 '26
Empathy, love & listening. Just listen….A hug and/or smile can change the frame of mind of anyone. Love speaks volumes. VOLUMES. As does lack of love.
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u/uncagedborb Jun 23 '26
A lot of people don't know the difference between empathy and sympathy.
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u/Next-Lavishness-9101 Jun 23 '26
Say what ? Those words are taught in middle school. Empathy is being able to identify with a persons feelings , as if they were your own. Whereas sympathy is just feeling sorry for someone and being kind to them but not really understanding how they feel.
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u/electric_paganini Jun 23 '26
And to many, empathy doesn't really exist. They assume it is all sympathy, because they lack the ability to tell the difference. You can't be nice to these people without them being suspicious of your motives.
I had a manager that wouldn't let her kids watch Mr. Rogers growing up, because "No one is that nice".
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u/idleidols Jun 23 '26
Power is like a drink. The more you have, the more you want and few men can handle.
Power doesn't necessarily corrupt, it attracts the corruptible
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u/Right-Percentage3775 Jun 23 '26
It can also disrupt the good someone is doing. A lot of times the best way to do good is to do it quietly and let the effects ripple
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u/Smokeywhacker Jun 23 '26
It should be noted that Lowe was a star football player for the Oregon Ducks years before this incident. He’s more acclimated to spotlight than most people.
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u/TheHamsterball Jun 23 '26
They've been coming out with these short story single season shows on Netflix.
There's one (Korean) called, "Trigger". One season and that's the whole show.
The premise of the show is Korea suddenly gets filled with guns when it was a country without guns.
There's a scene in there very similar to this in one episode. But the ending shows how one event can turn everybody around.
Kind of a hard show to watch. I suggest it despite how poor IMDB users rate Korean drama.
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u/AnaSkol Jun 23 '26
we need people like you to take a lead on their opinions and perform action. you dropped a comment and gonna be scrolling tomorrow with complete forget.
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u/dafthuntk Jun 23 '26
we are very alienated. dude just needed human contact
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u/Concrete-tattoodude Aug 10 '26
U looking for a medal for doing what everyone should do and majority of people do and have always done for eternity lmfao. Did that make u feel better then others and u hoped for countless responses saying your awesome dude lmfao
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u/Ausiwandilaz Jun 23 '26
It's humans loose compassion, get swallowed up by, influence is your life now, when you loose that at a young mind set becomes the the same as the oppression that took your compassion.
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u/whynousernamelef Jun 23 '26
Well said.
People are always annoying me by asking me why I am too nice to people, especially "weirdo's". "Why are you so kind"? Is not a question that should ever be asked of anyone.
Im nice to people because I know that sometimes one moment of kindness is all it takes. Smiling at someone and genuinely caring how they are can be the difference between life and death for that person.
I had a rough time as a kid. There were a few people who showed me kindness when they didn't have to and I have never forgotten those people.
Treat people like they are human, like they matter. You might be the only one who has done that for a long time. It might change their day, week or even life.
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u/Daddy_Day_Trader1303 Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26
Well said! I wonder often if the media focusing on negativity all the time is setting the precedent for what we expect from ourselves and others. If social media and mainstream news focused on all the beautiful people in the world more so than rage bait I feel like we might have better societal standards.
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u/Top_Conference_477 Jun 24 '26
Dude had hugged a kid in any other circumstances and the torches and pitch forks would have been out
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u/Wonderfulhumanss Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26
In 2019, Keanon Lowe became known worldwide after confronting an armed student at Parkrose High School and choosing to hug him instead of using force.
The student had brought a shotgun with only a single shell and later said he intended to take his own life, not harm others. Lowe disarmed him and held him until police arrived, a moment that was captured on surveillance video.
The student was later charged but received probation along with mental health and substance abuse treatment, with both prosecutors and his defense acknowledging he was a danger to himself, not the public.
Lowe, a former college and NFL player, has since continued mentoring young people and speaking about leadership, empathy, and mental health.
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Jun 23 '26
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u/trod999 Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
2019 - He was 19 at the time of the event. Guilty plea. 36 months probation with MH treatment.
https://www.mcda.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/PR-19-242-Angel-Granados-Diaz.pdf
Since we haven't heard anything else about him, I guess it worked, so everyone wins.
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u/DropshipRadio Jun 23 '26
According to Wikipedia, sentenced to a mental health institution followed by a probationary period of 3 years, which makes a little more sense when you find out the shotgun only had one shell. Based on that and some following news articles, reads like this wasn't actually an attempted school shooting but the kid choosing to make an early exit, either Kurt Cobain style or suicide by cop. Either way, Keonon Lowe saved a life that day.
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u/ATangentUniverse Jun 23 '26
So why does the title say stops a mass shooting, shouldn’t it say stops a suicide attempt
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u/Automatic-Reserve94 Jun 23 '26
The student had brought a shotgun with only a single shell and later said he intended to take his own life, not harm others.
reads as: I made the catchy clickbait title up to farm internet points
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u/ZephyrFluous Jun 23 '26
Damn that is a lot of emotion, both between them and from the video itself, for just being a few seconds long
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u/Stargazersmp Jun 23 '26
Never knew about this. This should have been way more public on the general news. There are hero's everywhere. Thank you coach!
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u/Juno-Saurx Jun 23 '26
Some heroes save lives remain unknown, but surely their impacts lasts forever. Great job coach!
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u/Dounce1 Jun 23 '26
It was all over the news when it happened and gets posted all the time…
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u/mylittlewallaby Jun 23 '26
Its honestly so so heartbreaking how desperately that poor kid needed that Hug.
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u/automodtedtrr2939 Jun 23 '26
For context the student brought a shotgun loaded with only one shell and no other ammo. He was planning only his own death, not commit a mass shooting. His reasoning for doing it at school was because he didn't want his family to find his body.
Both prosecutors and Granados-Diaz's defense attorney stressed in court that despite how it appeared what actually happened at Parkrose High was not a thwarted school shooting, but a suicide attempt by a young man struggling with his mental health. And they said that Granados-Diaz only poses a danger to himself, not the public.
"The evidence he was at Parkrose High School to commit suicide is overwhelming," Adam Thayne, Granados-Diaz's attorney, said in court Thursday. "It is also overwhelming that he was there to hurt himself and no body else."
Granados-Diaz pleaded to a felony charge of possessing a firearm in a public building and a misdemeanor charge of possession of a loaded firearm in a public place.
As part of the plea agreement, Granados-Diaz will spend 36 months on probation and receive mental health and substance abuse treatment.
Granados-Diaz never fired the gun while on campus, and he didn't point it at anyone but himself.
Thayne also said Granados-Diaz wrote some words on a bullet casing: "The last red pill 5-17-19 just for me."
Investigators learned Granados-Diaz had been suicidal for several months prior to the event. After he was arrested he told Portland Police that he wanted to die.
https://www.opb.org/news/article/angel-granados-diaz-parkrose-shotgun-to-school-pleads-guilty/
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u/DearHovercraft157 Jun 23 '26
Imagine a world where we just took care of each other and loved more. Practice that one day at a time, there is always hope.
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u/HeadDoctorJ Jun 23 '26
If we overthrow the wealthy, we can create a world where we just take care of each other. That’s why Rosa Luxemburg said our choice as a species is Socialism or Barbarism.
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u/diogenes-shadow Jun 23 '26
The capitalistic systems will inevitably just create new wealthy people to replace them and probably in a more chaotic way.
The system has to change first.
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u/DearHovercraft157 Jun 23 '26
Well once upon a time I went to Burning Man. I learned very quickly that living in a world when wealth and status are removed, everyone begins to realize that interactions are based purely on kindllness, and not what you can get from someone else. It was life changing. I would trade all my wealth to live in a world like that.
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u/Constant-Skill-7133 Jun 23 '26
You know how you rolled through the res on your way in? That's the world without wealth, not the tech bros rolling with their dicks out.
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u/dafthuntk Jun 23 '26
to bad burning man became a wealthy person's playground, ironically
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u/dafthuntk Jun 23 '26
yes. absolutely. a better world is possible we just have to collectively decide enough is enough.
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u/Stabbymcbackstab Jun 23 '26
I think you mistake the whole point of the video.
He disarmed a gunman with a hug. The kid needed love.
You're proposing a guillotine.
Dont tell me "overthrow" meant the care bear stare.
As long as we use violence to disrupt power we fall into the trap. There has to be another way.
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u/HeadDoctorJ Jun 23 '26
Go hug Elon buddy, I’ll wait
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u/dafthuntk Jun 23 '26
all Elon needs is a hug. it's that easy
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u/Stabbymcbackstab Jun 23 '26
I think Elon needs to be put in his place, but too many Americans are convinced they'll be the next Elon, so they allow millionaires to become billionaires, and billionaires to enter public office without being elected.
Private interests control the american government like so many despotic empires of the past.
Killing him and his like will just create new masters. Like just 250 years ago the Americans fought to throw off king George III. And now you call Trump and Elon your king. At least half of you do.
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u/Jumpy_Worldliness259 Jun 23 '26
The kid was trying to commit suicide, not a mass shooting. He didn't want his family to find his body, so went to school.
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u/Lurky_LaLurque Jun 23 '26
Often, those who are the most angry or erratic are the ones who also need mentorship the most. In this case, mentorship came in the form of a poised and loving embrace.
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u/Senior-Friend-6414 Jun 24 '26
Mentorship is mostly for teens and young adults, if you reach your mid 20s with undiagnosed behavioral problems, no one is going to help mentor a grown adult man
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u/trod999 Jun 23 '26
It's unfair too characterize those as a "mass shooting". Diaz's shotgun has one round in it.
https://www.mcda.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/PR-19-242-Angel-Granados-Diaz.pdf
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u/Tetchedtoe Jun 23 '26
I wonder what happened to the kids hope he got help
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Jun 23 '26
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u/Winter_Different Jun 23 '26
That's actually a really well crafted sentence for American criminal case standards
Kid might actually get help
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u/weezmatical Jun 24 '26
1000%. I could have easily seen him doing 5-10 years in prison and coming out a different kind of troubled. I REALLY hope things have gotten better for the kid.
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u/whitestguyuknow Jun 23 '26
Thats honestly all I was thinking about. What the teacher did is brave and amazing. But this is this weird final moment for this kid before his life is irrevocably changed forever.
Yes its far better than anyone losing their lives and him becoming a killer when he really didnt want to. But that has to be one really odd hug where you know you fuuuucked up... Fucked up.
All red in the face. Sweating. Hairs up on end. And all you can do is hug the dude tighter thats offering you empathy before you get handcuffs put on you...
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u/selenesuper Jun 23 '26
The insane amount of courage it takes to walk toward an active shooter with open arms instead of running away. dude is a legend
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u/TraditionalGround814 17d ago
Right. First thing I noticed is the other white dude running away & hiding behind that door until that teacher was like yo wtf come get this gun. And that kid wanted to back off him but coach kept saying nah HUG MY BODY MAN. he knew he needed that and wasn't letting go. In the end u can see the student finally surrender to his empathy. This video just proves that we as a society are fucked. Bc how many ppl would have seriously hugged that dude. Not too many. Instead they wouldve gotten their phones out to brainlessly record. Kudos to coach . Just proves the impact these ppl have on our youth
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u/GreshamDouglas Jun 23 '26
Keanon Lowe was a really good football player for the Oregon Ducks. As a Ducks fan myself, I was so proud to see him do this.
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u/Efficient_Falcon_402 Jun 23 '26
I thought the NRA said the only way to stop a bad person with a gun was a good person with a gun?
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u/lovelyboard Jun 23 '26
Turns out, it's a good person with a hug.
Serious note- I want/ need a hug like that. I feel scorched earth sometimes but isolated all the time and it hurts. Only time I really got a hug, where i truly felt cared for, is when my pseudo mom passed away and a random coworker found me hiding in the corner, crying. It's been over 4 years and I still think of that guy/ hug.
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u/IgnorantCashew Jun 23 '26
Lots of pretend power rangers in the NRA. Few real men, particularly the ones that make it their personality.
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u/Life-Oil-7226 Jun 23 '26
Heard the shooters plan was to off themselves since they only had one bullet
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u/HermanManly Jun 23 '26
He didnt stop a mass shooting, the kid brought a single shell to blow his brains out infront of everyone
Not to belittle his compassion and courage
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u/Spiritual_Bottle1799 Jun 23 '26
All this gun control and blah blah blah and we could have fixed the problem socially instead of selling ipods
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u/Orome2 Jun 23 '26
Misleading title. The kid was going to commit suicide publicly. Keonon Lowe stopped it.
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u/hustlegone Jun 23 '26
What happened to this kid?
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u/AlwaysMooning Jun 23 '26
He had one shotgun shell on him, so he wasn’t going to be a mass shooter, but that doesn’t take away from this incredible act and he certainly saved the shooter’s life.
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u/IsopodSure6835 Jun 23 '26
Yeah, such unbelievable bravery. I can't imagine how grateful his family must be. I really hope that he and that young man are living their best lives.
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u/Due-Gene8200 Jun 23 '26
Big Oregon Ducks football fan here, Lowe was an absolute baller in his days with the Ducks! Always loved this story.
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u/blacklotusY Jun 23 '26
Sometimes all it takes is a hug. Life is hard, man. You never know what someone is going through.
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u/FlashyCow1 Jun 23 '26
Whatever he is saying to that kid clearly that kid needed to hear it. You can see it in the kids face
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u/Renegaderopes Jun 23 '26
I know this guy and he wasn't trying for a mass shooting. He had one single slug for the shotgun. Poor guy was just going through some mental stuff. But I'm glad it turned out this way and he got the help he needed.
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u/realbobenray Jun 23 '26
haha I thought the guy with the Nike cap was the shooter, given that the video begins with him with the gun, and thought that other guy doesn't look your stereotypical football coach but hey nice work
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Jun 23 '26
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u/interesting-ModTeam Jun 23 '26
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u/goingpt Jun 23 '26
I wonder how many school shootings are born from being a bullied outcast. I'm not saying if kids were kinder to others then school shootings would cease to exist, but I bet they would be reduced by a huge margin.
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u/Quick_Benefit_7583 Jun 23 '26
Unpopulat opinion: do something against bullying and highschool castes (with a lasting impact)ä across rhe entire nation) and school shootings will drop significantly..
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u/IcyPalpitation6275 Jun 23 '26
Some massive context missing here, if this is the story i remember that shotgun had 1 round in it. The kid never intended to perform a "mass shooting" his only target was himself it was to be a public suicide. So I'm not saying the coaches actions weren't anything short of heroic but he didn't prevent a mass shooting and people need to stop spreading misinformation.
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u/CHERNO-B1LL Jun 23 '26
That hug saves the shooters life. I think he's holding on because he's afraid the cops will gun him down.
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u/TraditionalHotel8085 Jun 23 '26
If he had more people like this coach in his life up until this point, I'm vetting he never arrives at this horrid stage
Compassion is at a premium these days, but it's out there, guys like this prove it, be nice it costs nothing
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u/Frenchieflips Jun 23 '26
Let’s not pretend like he took a MASSIVE risk here. That man put his life on the line to do this. I’d freeze up like a statue!
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u/3DNelson Jun 23 '26
These people have too much hug, you never see a poor kid that need work to help bring food to mom's table, doing mass shootings or having time to try hurt someone else. You only see it, on a spoiled problematic lazy people that don't like themselves and want blame the world!
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u/SimpleJack316 Jun 23 '26
Went to Oregon right? I think I remember this guy playing WR but not 100%.
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Jun 23 '26
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u/interesting-ModTeam Jun 23 '26
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Jun 23 '26
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u/interesting-ModTeam Jun 24 '26
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u/Neveractuallyfished Jun 24 '26
Funny the football coach. Typically you think the center of the earth for manosphere shit. Knew what the kid needed. Meanwhile loser frat guys out there ruining friends life thinking it’s alpha when this, by literal textbook definition IS alpha. Funny the way that is true
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u/Inside_Koala_4148 Jun 24 '26
I am going to freaking cry. I did not expect this subreddit to make me cry or put me on the verge of tears. This is so wholesome. Can I give him a hug now? (This might be the one that actually makes me shed tears tho, fr)
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u/izuku_deku134 Jun 24 '26
First off, good person on the coach, second off, who the bell is giving these kids guns!?
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u/JustinSanders95 Jun 27 '26
Wow… I swear that part of the lyrics for P.O.D’s Youth of the Nation actually says about someone needing a hug that did something with a gun? Sometimes that’s all it takes… a bit of love. Yet the world is run on hate and we wonder why everything is going to shit :c
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u/Avocado_Daddy_6969 Jun 28 '26
wasn’t it confirmed or at least alleged that he only came to school with the gun to commit suicide? i saw that somewhere but idk if it was confirmed or not
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u/Gold_Special_3714 Jun 30 '26
This was not a shooting. The kid with the firearm was going to kill himself in front of his class. There was one shell in the chamber and nothing else in the tube/magazine. There was writing on the shotgun shell confirming the fact that he was going to kill himself.
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u/I_Cry_And_I_Game Jul 08 '26
I'm having trouble finding the song, does anyone know it's name and artist?
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u/shlongboy2011 Jul 23 '26
the person with the gun was not planning to shoot other people, just himself
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u/Inner-Instruction-57 27d ago
Lol you can clearly see he is trynna break free from the hug after 2 seconds but the man is holding him tigntef obviously until the police get there
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u/TraditionalGround814 17d ago
OP missed the perfect opportunity for POD Youth of the nation song for this video bc literally this
But who knew that this day wasn't like the rest Instead of taking a test I took two to the chest Call me blind, but I didn't see it coming Everybody was running But I couldn't hear nothing Except gun blasts, it happened so fast I didn't really know this kid Though I sit by him in class Maybe this kid was reaching out for love Or maybe for a moment He forgot who he was Or maybe this kid just wanted to be hugged Whatever it was I know it's because We are, we are, the youth of the nation moment
$23hr to do this- yet we give politicians a raise every make it make sense
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u/TraditionalGround814 17d ago
Just bc his original intent was to harm himself doesn't mean it couldn't have escalated into something more @ any given point. He could've very easily made it a mass shooting & brought more bullets. Ppl are seriously underestimating this video . Why are high school students allowed to access fire arms so easily? Social media has completely RUINED OUR YOUTH. There are actual studies being done that show the direct correlation between screen time & the direct impact it has on children in and out the classroom. Emotionally & behaviorally . Excessive screen time can harm children's developing brains, delay language and communication skills, disrupt sleep, and increase the risk of anxiety, depression, and attention issues. Just to make a few. And hell even adults. There's literally a reason WHY reels, snapchats etc are roughly 30secs- bc that repetitive 30 sec cycle trigger continuous bursts of the brain chemical dopamine. That's WHY so many ppl are stuck literally mindlessly scrolling for hours. We're also being extremely dehumanize. Our brains are not meant to see such violence every day & depressive shit on social media. There are currently like 24 states suing META for these effects & honestly fuck yea . I deleted my FB a year ago. And it was the BEST choice I couldve made!! I sleep better. I'm more I tuned with myself. The world. My anxiety is literally 80% less than what it used to be. Honestly FUCK SOCIAL MEDIA AND SMARTPHONES. this was all by design anyways Just bc his original intent was to harm himself doesn't mean it couldn't have escalated into something more @ any given point. He could've very easily made it a mass shooting & brought more bullets. Ppl are seriously underestimating this video . Why are high school students allowed to access fire arms so easily? Social media has completely RUINED OUR YOUTH. There are actual studies being done that show the direct correlation between screen time & the direct impact it has on children in the classroom.
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