Five Metro Nashville Police officers who responded to the Covenant School shooting and a Nebraska officer who dove into an icy pond to rescue a woman all received the Medal of Valor from President Joe Biden Friday.
The Medal of Valor is the nation’s highest honor for public safety professionals.
In February 2023, Lincoln, Nebraska, Police Sgt. Tu Anh Tran responded to a winter weather-related wreck at Wilderness Ridge Golf Course in which a 27-year-old woman lost control of her Hyundai Elantra and crashed into a pond, the Nebraska Examiner.
Tran was in a store about two miles away when he responded to the 911 call as the closest officer on a 22-degree day, the Lincoln Journal Star reported at the time. He sped to the scene, shed his body armor and belt and jumped in.
He pulled the woman out of the sinking vehicle and bystanders helped both to shore.
In addition to Tran, Metro Nashville Police Sgt. Jeffrey Mathes, Detectives Michael Collazo, Ryan Cagle and Zachary Plese, and Officer Rex Engelbert received the award. On March 27, 2023, all five officers responded to the active shooter attack at Covenant School and quickly ended the killing.
Six people, including three 9-year-old students, were killed when a former student entered The Covenant School and opened fire. The shooting claimed the lives of head of school Katherine Koonce, 59; custodian Mike Hill, 61; substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61; and third-graders Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney and Hallie Scruggs, the Covenant Presbyterian pastor’s daughter, the Tennessean reports.
"The officers rushed to the scene, and as they arrived, the shooter opened fire on them," the White House said in its announcement. "Still, the officers entered the school, cleared classroom after classroom, and ran towards the sounds of gunfire where they encountered the shooter. They took down the shooter."
