Mom: My son ‘saved other lives’ on bus

updated 9:31 p.m. ET Sept. 3, 2009

YAZOO CITY, Miss. - The mother of a Mississippi high school football standout says she wasn't surprised to hear he wrestled a loaded gun from a 14-year-old girl on school bus.

Ora Eulls said Kaleb Eulls' four sisters and two cousins were also on the Yazoo County School District bus when the unnamed girl pulled a semiautomatic handgun out of her flower-print bag after boarding the bus on Tuesday.

"I always taught all of them to look out for each other and others," Ora Eulls said Thursday. "It was a good thing because he saved other lives. But he could have lost his life saving their lives."

The 6-foot-4, 255-pound Kaleb Eulls tackled the girl and wrestled the gun out of her hand.

The athlete, who plans to play football at Mississippi State University, said he was sleeping when one of his sisters on the bus shook him awake.

A school bus security video shows students scurrying to exit the bus from the front and back after the girl drew the gun. The students ranged in age from 5-18, said Yazoo County Sheriff Tommy Vaughn.

Girl held
The unnamed girl faces charges of attempted assault and kidnapping for each of the 22 people on board the bus. She was in juvenile custody.

Vaughn said ordinarily civilians are advised not to take matters in their own hand, but Kaleb Eulls did what no one else could in the situation. Vaughn said there's no security guard on the bus.

"He could easily take the attitude 'I'm fixing to be a football star and I don't have a dog in this fight and I'm going to out the back door and bail.' But he didn't do that," Vaughn said. "Everyone wants to have a son like that. He's an asset to the school."

Kaleb Eulls' heroism has drawn him national attention, appearing on CNN and NBC's Today, but the spotlight has become nuisance at the 500-student Yazoo County High School.

Principal Ray Harber said "we've got to get back to normalcy."

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