The Rev. Ian Stamps presented Carnegie Hero Angela Lynn McQueen, of Mattoon, Ill., the Carnegie Medal at a private ceremony held Oct. 6, 2019, at Broadway Christian Church in Mattoon.
McQueen was honored for saving approximately 260 high school teachers, students, and staff when a 14-year-old student brandished a handgun and began firing in the Mattoon High School cafeteria on September 20, 2017.
One student was wounded before McQueen disarmed and subdued the student.
Several students took to the podium to thank McQueen for what she did that day.
One student, who was standing in the cafeteria when the firing started, said, “I saw an immediate threat to my peers, and I was shocked. I didn’t know what to do. But then Ms. McQueen came out of nowhere and did the sickest side tackle I’ve ever seen in my life, and had the situation under control in a matter of seconds. It was amazing. … My life had just been handed back to me.”