Sunday, May 12, 2019 | 2 a.m.
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Amid the epidemic of gun violence in the United States, stories of individuals who put themselves in harm’s way to save others from gunfire have become saddeningly common.
These Americans are the picture of heroism. But they’re also the faces of a tragedy — our years of allowing the firearms lobby to run roughshod over sensible regulations designed to maintain public safety.
As a result, we’ve reached a point where individuals are increasingly being compelled to risk their lives so that others may have a future.
Today, the Sun pays tribute to some of these selfless and courageous Americans and offers a simple wish — that our community will honor them by supporting reasonable, common sense policies to improve gun safety in our nation.
Kendrick Castillo
Castillo, a senior at STEM School Highlands Ranch in Colorado, lunged at a student who opened fire Tuesday in his British literature class, giving his classmates time to flee. Castillo was shot and killed.
Riley Howell
A 21-year-old ROTC cadet at UNC Charlotte, Howell charged a shooter who opened fire in a classroom April 30. Howell suffered three gunshot wounds, one fatal.
Oscar Stewart and Lori Gilbert-Kaye
Gilbert-Kaye, 60, was attending Passover services at the Chabad of Poway, Calif., synagogue April 27 when a gunman entered the building and began firing. Gilbert-Kaye jumped between the shooter and her rabbi, Yisroel Goldstein, who was injured but survived the shooting. Stewart, who also was attending the services, rushed the shooter, chased him to his car and slammed his hand into the vehicle as the gunman fumbled with a rifle, prompting him to drop the weapon. The shooter was then apprehended.
Jason Seaman
A teacher at Noblesville West Middle School in Indiana, Seaman was shot in the midsection, hip and forearm when a 13-year-old student opened fire in his science classroom in May 2018. Despite his injuries, Seaman wrestled the student to the ground and prevented him from firing at others.
Michael Landsberry
When a 12-year-old opened fire with a pistol on the outdoor basketball courts at Sparks Middle School in October 2013, Landsberry calmly walked toward the boy with his hands raised and tried to reason with him to put the gun down. The boy instead shot and killed Landsberry before taking his own life. But Landsberry, a popular teacher and member of the Nevada Air National Guard, was credited with saving the lives of students who were on site that morning.
Frank Hall
In February 2012, Hall dodged a bullet fired at him and charged a 17-year-old who’d opened fire at Chardon High School in Ohio. Hall, a faculty member and assistant football coach, chased the student out of the building.
Bill Badger
A retired Army colonel, Badger was grazed in the head by a bullet during the January 2011 shooting in which Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was injured. But with another man, he then rushed the shooter and brought him to the ground while the man was reloading. Bleeding from his wound, Badger held the man in a choke hold while authorities rushed in to arrest him. Badger died at age 78 in 2015.
Liviu Librescu
As the gunman responsible for the April 2007 shooting on the Virginia Tech University approached Librescu’s classroom, the aeronautical engineering professor and Holocaust survivor held his door closed and told his students to exit through the windows. Librescu, 76, was shot five times through the door, and died.
Jake Ryker
On May 21, 1998, his 17th birthday, Ryker was sitting in the cafeteria at Thurston High School in Springfield, Ore., when a student walked in and began shooting. Ryker was struck in the right lung and tumbled down, but got up and charged the shooter. With several other students, including his younger brother Josh, he brought the student to the ground. Both Ryker brothers survived the shooting.
