Prosecutors have released the video showing a student heroically tackling and disarming a gunman in a Seattle school campus in June last year before he could do more damage.
The King County prosecutor's office shared the video after a public records request made by Seattle TV media networks, including KOMO, KIRO, King, Q13 Fox, and the Seattle Times. The state court of appeals earlier upheld the request as compliant with Washington's Public Records Act, the Guardian reported.
In the dramatic video, the gunman-identified as Aaron Ybarra-is seen entering a campus building lobby of the Seattle Pacific University looking for targets. He initially spots a female student and shoots her with a shotgun. As he reloads, the victim and a student sitting nearby can be seen escaping.
Suddenly, the hero student-identified as Jon Meis-suddenly appears and pepper-sprays Ybarra in the face before tackling him to the ground and disarming him.
As the gunman attempts to recover, Meis re-appears and puts him in a headlock before another man shows up and kicks away the pistol.
Both restrain Ybarra until the authorities arrived.
According to the police, Ybarra killed a male student outside the building short before he entered. Scheduled to face trial in September for murder, his defense attorney Ramona Brandes contends that Ybarra suffers from a mental illness.
While Meis has been praised for his role in stopping the shooting, school officials nevertheless said they were disappointed with the decision to have the videos release.
They plan to challenge the ruling, saying the release of the videos violated individual privacy and would have a harmful effect on the students' mental and emotional well-being, ABC News reported.
At the time he tackled and disarmed the gunman, Meis was working as the student monitor in the building.
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