The April 7 shooting wounded Principal Kirk Moore, left no students hurt and pushed former student Victor Hawkins toward a May 8 court hearing.
PAULS VALLEY, Okla. — Newly released school surveillance video shows Principal Kirk Moore rushing an armed former student in the lobby of Pauls Valley High School on April 7, a confrontation that left Moore wounded in the leg and ended a shooting before any students were hit.
The footage matters now because it gives the clearest public view yet of how fast the attack unfolded in this small Oklahoma town and why investigators say staff action likely kept it from becoming far worse. Authorities say Victor Hawkins, 20, entered the school with two loaded pistols and intended to kill students, staff and then himself. He remains jailed as prosecutors pursue felony charges, and his next court appearance is set for May 8 in Garvin County.
Authorities said the shooting began at about 2:20 p.m. on April 7 when Hawkins, a former Pauls Valley High School student, entered the building through the southeast entrance and moved into the foyer. A probable cause affidavit says he pointed a gun at one student and pulled the trigger, but the weapon malfunctioned and did not fire. The affidavit says he then stepped behind a vending machine, worked to clear the problem and came back out. He pointed the weapon at a second student in the lobby and fired inside the school. At that point, Moore ran from his office and charged him. Surveillance video shows the two colliding near a bench as the principal tries to stop him at close range. During the struggle, Hawkins fired again and Moore was shot in the right lower leg, according to the affidavit. Even after he was wounded, the principal kept wrestling with Hawkins until help arrived.
Investigators and school leaders have described those seconds as the turning point of the case. Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokesman Hunter McKee said the principal and staff stepped in almost as soon as they saw a subject with a firearm. After the shooting, McKee said their actions “saved lives.” The affidavit says Moore was able to remove Hawkins’ pistol from his hand, and that Moore and the school assistant principal held him down on a bench until law enforcement officers arrived. Later reporting identified two staff members who helped during the struggle as Assistant Principal Chad Chronister and coach Mark Green. Officers took Hawkins into custody at the scene within minutes. Moore was the only person struck by gunfire. Authorities said no students were physically harmed, though the attack unfolded in a front lobby where students were present. The school went into lockdown, and families later were reunited with students after officers cleared the building.
The public record has also filled in what investigators say Hawkins told them after his arrest. The affidavit says he graduated from Pauls Valley High School in May 2025. On the day of the shooting, investigators say, he decided at about 2 p.m. that he would go to the school with the intent of killing students, faculty members and finally himself. The same affidavit says he went into his father’s room, took two semiautomatic pistols from a closet and drove his father’s black Dodge pickup to the campus. Once inside, investigators say, he yelled for people to get on the ground. He later told agents he wanted to carry out a school shooting like the 1999 Columbine attack. The affidavit also says he told investigators he did not like Moore and went to the school to kill him. Those statements have made the case more than a story about a fast response by a principal. They have turned it into an alleged attempted mass shooting that, by investigators’ account, came within seconds of becoming much deadlier.
The attack shook Pauls Valley, a town of about 6,000 people south of Oklahoma City where many families know the schools and the people inside them well. Violence inside a high school lobby is rare enough in a place like this to rattle the whole community at once. By the next morning, classes were canceled districtwide so students and staff could have time and support after the shooting. Schools remained closed on April 9 while district employees met to plan how students would return. Counselors were made available as families tried to process what had happened in a front entry area that normally serves as a routine space for arrivals, exits and brief conversations. Superintendent Brett Knight told families that safety remained the district’s top priority and that many people were feeling anxiety, worry and fear. State leaders also quickly weighed in. Gov. Kevin Stitt said Moore “acted bravely to protect students’ lives” and said he was grateful no students were harmed.
By April 9, authorities said Moore had been released from the hospital and was recovering at home after being treated at OU Health in Oklahoma City. Hawkins, meanwhile, moved into the court system. Early public descriptions of the charges varied slightly, but the filed case and later reporting all described the same core allegations. He faces one count of shooting with intent to kill, two counts of pointing a firearm and two counts of unlawful carry. During a video arraignment on April 8, Hawkins appeared with a court-appointed lawyer. Local reporting from the hearing said he told a judge he had every intention of going inside the school to shoot students, faculty members and then himself. A judge set bond at $1 million after the state argued he posed a danger to the public. If released, he would be required to wear a GPS tracker, stay away from schools, possess no firearms and have no contact with victims in the case. His next hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. May 8 in Garvin County.
The newly released surveillance clip is striking because the first moments look ordinary. Students are visible in the lobby. Chairs and benches are in place. Then a former student appears with a handgun, and the calm breaks almost at once. Moore does not wait for a long standoff. He runs straight from his office toward the gunman, collides with him and keeps fighting after he is shot. For residents, that visual record has hardened the image of Moore that had already taken shape in the first hours after the attack. Pauls Valley Police Chief Don May said the town does not expect this kind of violence and that the situation was handled as well as it could be. Knight said after the shooting that Moore was “a hero today,” describing him as the kind of leader who would put himself between students and danger. The video does not answer every question about the lead-up to the attack, but it shows with unusual clarity how little time school staff had to act and how quickly they did.
As of April 14, Moore was recovering, students had returned to class and Hawkins remained jailed while prosecutors prepared for the next court date. The next public milestone is the May 8 hearing, when the case is expected to move from the first emergency account of the shooting toward a fuller court record.
Author note: Last updated April 14, 2026.