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Newly Released Video Shows Former 49ers Assistant Coach Disarm Student With Compassionate Hug

Talmes said “thank goodness” Lowe was there to show the compassion that Granados-Diaz needed before anyone was hurt.

A recently released surveillance video shows an incident that happened in Portland back in May, when a former San Francisco 49ers assistant coach stopped a possible school shooting.

In the video Keanon Lowe, who was working at a coach at Parkrose High School, can be seen hugging 19-year-old Angel Granados-Diaz as he gently disarms him, taking a shotgun hidden under Granados-Diaz’s coat and handing it to another school employee. Granados-Diaz returns Lowe’s hug.

One of the founders of Beyond Differences, a program to help prevent student isolation, discussed the video.

“What he needed was an embrace, love, being seen and visible and hopefully being accepted for whatever it was that’s going on for him,” said Laura Talmes, co-founder and executive director of Beyond Differences.

Talmes said “thank goodness” Lowe was there to show the compassion that Granados-Diaz needed before anyone was hurt.

Beyond Differences trains high school students to talk to middle schoolers in the community about how to identify and help kids who show signs of isolation. Isolation is thought to be the precursor to many instances where young people do things to hurt themselves or others.

Beyond Differences, which works with schools in the Bay Area, Portland and across the U.S. tries to create cultures of belonging in school by making sure everyone feels included and accepted.

Officials said that Granados-Diaz was in a mental health crisis before loading one shell into the shotgun and heading into the high school.

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