Miss. St. recruit disarms teen with gun, saves students on school bus

Mississippi State football recruit Kaleb Eulls, a senior at Yazoo County High School in Yazoo City, Miss., is being credited for helping 22 students escape a scary situation involving an armed 14-year old girl on a bus Tuesday morning.

Eulls, a 6-foot-4, 255-pound quarterback/defensive end on the Panther football team, approached and disarmed the girl, who was carrying a chrome-plated .380-caliber semi-automatic handgun and making threatening comments, according to The Clarion Ledger.

According to witnesses, Eulls tackled her then popped back up seconds later with the weapon in his hand.

"If it hadn't been for this star football player, things could have been different," Yazoo County Sheriff Tommy Vaughan told The Clarion-Ledger. "He didn't go overboard, but he did exactly what it took to get her on the ground."

"My first reaction was to make sure everybody got to safety," Eulls told MaxPreps.com. "I just tried to calm her down and see if she was willing to give up the gun, but she wouldn't."

He let about 10 students out the back of the bus before "she kind of looked away and I just launched at her. The gun fell out of her hand. I picked it up and ran out the back of the bus and disarmed it. She just ran behind me and asked for the gun back."

Despite the incident, Eulls still finished his day on the football field with his teammates at practice.

"We just tried to get him back to normal," Yazoo County head coach Matt Williams told MaxPreps. "He had a lot of things running through his mind and having that time out on the field with his teammates was good for him."

Eulls is being hailed as a hero in the small town. He will appear on CNN Thursday.

"I'm very proud of him," Williams said. "He doesn't have to score anymore touchdowns or make any sacks, he is probably the greatest kid I'll ever be a part of.

"You hate that the incident occurred, but the way it turned out you are proud of the way Caleb handled it."

According to The Clarion Ledger, the girl was arrested on 22 counts of attempted aggravated assault, 22 counts of kidnapping and one count of possession of a firearm on school property.

Yazoo County (1-1) plays at Jackson High School Friday night.

MaxPreps.com's Dave Krider and Jason Hickman contributed to this report.