Video shows Oklahoma principal tackle Columbine-inspired gunman: affidavit

PAULS VALLEY, Okla. (KFOR) – New video shows a principal tackling a gunman inside an Oklahoma high school after the former student opened fire April 7.

Court documents obtained by Nexstar’s KFOR say the suspect in the Pauls Valley High School shooting studied the 1999 Columbine school shooting and tried to target multiple students before shooting and wounding Principal Kirk Moore during the scuffle.

The documents say his gun also malfunctioned multiple times, allowing students time to escape the building.According to the arrest affidavit for 20-year-old Victor Lee Hawkins, Hawkins walked into the main entrance of the high school at 2:19 p.m. that Tuesday carrying two loaded semi-automatic pistols.

Victor Lee Hawkins, image courtesy Garvin County Sheriff

Investigators say Hawkins entered the school, pointed his gun and yelled for everyone to “get on the ground.”

The gunman then allegedly pointed his weapon at a student in the foyer and attempted to shoot, but the gun malfunctioned and did not fire. The affidavit says Hawkins then stepped behind a vending machine “to clear the malfunction.”

Investigators say Hawkins come back out and he pointed his weapon at another student and fired a shot. It says that the teen put his hands in the air and asked the gunman not to shoot him.

The document noted that Hawkins then lowered his gun, telling both students, whom he had just attempted to shoot, to leave the scene.

The students immediately ran out of the school’s front entrance.At that point, the affidavit says, Principal Moore ran to the lobby to investigate the gunfire. The video shows Moore open a door and, without hesitation, charge at the gunman.

Pauls Valley Principal Kirk Moore is being treated for wounds received during an incident at the school. (KFOR)

According to the affidavit, Moore then “wrestled with Hawkins on a bench in the foyer and was able to remove Hawkins’ pistol from his hand.” It says Moore and the school’s assistant principal then lay on top of Hawkins until law enforcement arrived.

Investigators added that the gunman shot Moore in the right leg during the altercation.

The affidavit continues, explaining that Hawkins later admitted to investigators with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation that he brought the firearms into the school.

He allegedly told investigators the guns belonged to his father, and he stole them out of his the closet before driving his dad’s truck to the school.

Documents say Hawkins admitted he “wanted to conduct his own school shooting like the Columbine shooters did.”

Investigators say the suspect also admitted to them he “did not like Principal Moore” and “went to the high school to kill Moore.”

Moore is out of the hospital and recovering.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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