Kirk Moore had spent decades preparing for the kind of emergency no school leader wants to face.
But when gunfire erupted outside his office at Pauls Valley High School in Oklahoma, the 60-year-old principal told CBS News chief correspondent Matt Gutman that training gave way to instinct.
“In 37 years, you go through trainings and drills and what you should do,” Moore said. “That all goes out the window. I’m glad it worked out the way it did again.”
Moore, who was shot in the leg during the confrontation, credited divine protection for the outcome.
“I think God’s hand was on all of us, but I can’t explain why it happened the way it did,” he told CBS News.
A struggle on a padded bench
Authorities identified the suspect as Victor Hawkins, 20, a former Pauls Valley High School student. NBC News reported that Hawkins remains in custody on a $1 million bond and has pleaded not guilty.
Investigators said Hawkins brought two of his father’s semiautomatic handguns to the school and intended to carry out “his own school shooting like the Columbine shooters did,” according to NBC News.
Police said Hawkins first tried to shoot a student after entering the school, but the gun malfunctioned. According to an arrest affidavit cited by NBC News, he cleared the malfunction, fired at another student and missed.
NBC News reported that the two students pleaded for mercy and were allowed to leave, with other students following.
Police accounts said Moore then ran from a nearby door and tackled Hawkins, knocking him down. Moore told Gutman that the two landed on a padded bench area.
“We fell on the padded bench area, and he just started emptying the gun into the floor,” Moore said.
Moore said he did not immediately realize he had been shot.
“Once I got stood up, I felt the… warmth of the blood and then, I knew I’d been hit,” he told CBS News.
An assistant principal came out to help, and Hawkins was subdued. No one else was injured, according to the source report.
‘Former students’ rushed to help
Moore was flown by helicopter to a hospital, where his wound was treated.
He told CBS News that many of the first responders who helped him were familiar faces from his years in education.
“My MediFlight nurse, all of the firemen, police officers — former students,” Moore said.
In the days after the attack, students at Pauls Valley High School honored Moore by crowning him prom king.
Compassion after a violent attack
According to the source report, Hawkins allegedly told police that Moore was among the people he had intended to kill, along with students, faculty members and himself.
Moore told CBS News he did not remember having any prior disciplinary conflict with Hawkins.
“I never had Victor in my office for any disciplinary reasons,” he said.
Even after being wounded, Moore expressed compassion for the accused attacker.
“I feel like we need to pray for that kid as much as we pray for anybody,” Moore told CBS News. “I think he was just in a bad spot at that time.”
