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Kaleb Eulls, a 6’ 4” 255 lb defensive end, is used to protecting against the pass rush for his Yazoo County High School football team. But on Tuesday morning, September 1, 2009, he had to protect a school bus full of kids from a student carrying a .38 caliber pistol.
Tuesday morning began just like any other morning for football star Kaleb Eulls. He and his three younger sisters were among 22 passengers on a school bus bound for Yazoo County High School in western Mississippi when a 14-year old female student boarded the bus armed with a semi-automatic handgun threatening to shoot and ordering the bus driver to pull over.
Eulls had fallen asleep in the back of the bus listening to his mp3 player and didn’t realize what was happening until one of his sisters woke him up. As Eulls took stock of the situation, the girl began waving the gun around, pointing it at the little kids seated at the front of the bus.
Eulls knew what he had to do.
He stood up, and secured the attention of the gun-carrying girl. While she trained the gun on Kaleb, he opened the emergency door located at the rear of the bus and began evacuating as many of his fellow students as he could.
Though he tried reasoning with her, the girl became more and more hostile. Sensing the situation escalating beyond his control, Eulls took advantage of a split-second opportunity given to him when the girl looked out the window.
Mustering the athletic prowess that made him the 19th ranked defensive end in the nation, Eulls leapt at her, tackled her to the ground, and quickly wrestled the gun away from her. He then ran off the bus and disarmed the gun.
Thanks to Eull’s quick thinking and selfless courage, not a single student was injured in the ordeal.
After the local sheriff arrested the young girl on 22 counts kidnapping and 22 counts of assault, he said of Eulls, “He made the statement to one of my deputies that if she was going to shoot anyone he would rather she shoot him. Watching him do that and him doing such a heroic act and not even caring about his own safety, that’s something you don’t see every day.”
That sheriff is right; most people aren’t willing to make personal sacrifices.
But if Christ’s followers will commit to living selflessly, people will notice. If we do it correctly, they won’t see us, but Christ!
Click here for the online report.
Topics Illustrated Include:
Athlete
Football
Hero
Life-Saving
Rescue
Risk
Sacrificial
Selfless
Taking Action
Teens
Violence
(Resource cataloged by David R Smith)
