PITTSBURGH—Math teacher David Benke heard what he thought was a firecracker in the parking lot at the Colorado middle school where he worked and went to check it out. Instead, he saw a man with a hunting rifle shooting at terrified students.
Benke ran and tackled the gunman, preventing what could have been another tragedy just three miles from the site of the nation’s deadliest high school shooting. As a result of his courage that day, Benke was one of 21 people awarded a Carnegie medal for heroism on Wednesday by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission.
Two students were wounded in the shooting at Deer Creek Middle School in Littleton, Colo., which is not far from Columbine High School, where 13 people were shot and killed in 1999.
Bruco Strong Eagle Eastwood is accused of attempted first-degree murder and other charges in the February shooting; he has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Benke has received many accolades since the day of the shooting, including being honored by the School Safety Advocacy Council. He also has received a new car, a ride with the Air Force Thunderbirds, and honors from the Colorado Legislature and state school resource and drug prevention officers’ groups.
The Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Heroes Fund was started in 1904 by steel baron Andrew Carnegie, who was inspired after hearing rescue stories from a mine disaster that killed 181 people. Since then, more than $32.9 million has been awarded to 9,412 people.
Medalists, or their heirs, receive $5,000.
