Two West Liberty-Salem administrators who played a large role in stopping an active shooter in January will receive a prestigious award for their actions.
Greg Johnson, principal of the high school and middle school, and Andy McGill, assistant K12 principal, will be honored at an event in Washington, D.C., where they will be given the Jake Ryker award. The award is for a student or school employee who stops an active shooter.
DETAILS: West Liberty suspect asked victim to shoot him, report says
Ely Serna, 17, has been accused of bringing a shotgun to school on Jan. 20 and firing several shots. Student Logan Cole was hit twice. Students and staff said they fled from the scene trying to avoid the suspect. Meanwhile, authorities said Johnson and McGill ran toward the bathroom Logan and Serna were in.
“I don’t know if I am real comfortable with the term heroic,” Johnson said. “The decisions that we made that day did help prevent a bad situation from getting a lot worse. We save the term hero for the students that day. We felt like we did what we needed to do.”
INTERVIEW: What Johnson believes was key factor in subduing accused shooter