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- USA TodayFootball hero replays tackle of armed girl
By Chris Joyner, USA TODAY
Kaleb Eulls is used to hearing cheers for his heroics on the football field, but the Yazoo County, Miss., high school senior's quick thinking Tuesday morning on a school bus has earned him a different kind of acclaim.
Kaleb Eulls, a 6-foot 4-inch, 255-pound senior at
Yazoo County High School, plans to attend
Mississippi State University
The Clarion-Ledger
Eulls, 18, tackled and disarmed a 14-year-old girl who had pulled a .380 semiautomatic handgun from her bag and was threatening students and demanding the driver pull over, County Sheriff Tommy Vaughn said.
Vaughn, who has reviewed the incident on the bus security camera, said the courage Eulls showed was incredible.
"Even though he was raised right, what put him in the thought to go above and beyond like that, I don't know," Vaughn said.
Kaleb's mother, Ora Eulls, said Wednesday, "I'm thanking God today that he is still here and everything turned out all right.
"He told me last night that it really just dawned on him last night what happened. It was just a reaction," she said.
Vaughn said the girl, who is being held in the county youth detention center, said she was the victim of bullies. She has been charged with possession of a firearm on school property and 22 counts each of attempted aggravated assault and kidnapping. USA TODAY does not publish the names of minors charged with crimes.
Because the crime was committed with a gun and the girl is over 13, she meets the criteria to be charged as an adult, Yazoo County District Attorney James Powell said.
Eulls, a 6-foot-4, 255-pound quarterback and defensive end for Yazoo County High School, said he was asleep when the girl boarded the bus. When she pulled out the gun, one of Eulls' three younger sisters — Kimberly Clark, 16; Ashley Dortch, 14; and Bobbie Dortch, 12, who were among the 23 people on the bus — shook him awake, he said.
Eulls said he tried to get the girl's attention.
"I kept my distance for a second, she kind of glanced away or blinked and I got to her," he said. "I just basically thought about all the lives that were in danger. It all happened in about five minutes. I'm thankful that it turned out the way it did."
Eulls said the girl was shouting about people "picking on her" and throwing paper at her. If she was being bullied on the bus, he said he had not seen it happen on the morning bus rides. "I really didn't know her too well," he said.
School officials said they do not know what prompted the student to board the school bus this week with a pistol.
Assistant Superintendant Mickey Rivers said she did not approach her teachers about the bullying and that she had just transferred into the school.
"Every one of her teachers said she just sat in class and never talked to anybody," he said.
In investigating Tuesday's incident, Rivers said one of the girl's cousins said someone threw paper at her as she exited the bus Monday evening, but it did not appear to anger her. "Her cousin said she even turned around and grinned," he said.
Yazoo County School Superintendent Jack Nicholson said he was "extremely proud" of Eulls. "He's a fine young man, he's a good athlete, and he's a good person," he said. "No one knows how they will act in scenarios like that."
Nicholson also praised the bus driver, Katie Boddy, for trying to calm the girl while bringing the bus to a stop. "Her reactions were just textbook, " he said.
Yazoo County High School head football coach Matt Williams said Eulls' teammates at Tuesday's practice were calling him "Superman" and "Hancock," the reckless superhero portrayed by Will Smith in the movie of the same name.
"I've known Kaleb since he was a seventh-grader, and to see him grow up into the man he is now, is just humbling to me, " Williams said.
Assistant Superintendent Mickey Rivers said the girl's teachers say she did not approach them about being bullied. Rivers said the girl transferred to Yazoo County this year.
Eulls has verbally committed to play for the Mississippi State University football team next fall, his mother says.
Joyner reports for The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger
