Student Recognized As Hero For Leading Others To Safety During Choctaw Football Game Shooting

We're continuing to hear stories from people who were inside the Choctaw football stadium when chaos erupted. And one student is now being hailed a hero.

“So we just all laid down like this. Side by side, ready to run” Kieson Iwerson demonstrated on a hill adjacent to Choctaw’s practice field. "They were just coming from all over everyone was flooding the field."

"You always think it's never going to be you," said Lynse Iwerson, Kie’s mother, who had just arrived home when word of the shooting reached her by phone call.

Lynse Iwerson had just made it home when she got the phone call.

"As I’m on the phone we hear additional shots," she said.

She began racing back to the stadium to find her son, who was still at the game.

"Everyone was just honking their horns and driving as fast as they could," she said. "As we pulled up kids started emerging from the woods full sprint."

Come to find out, Kieson was leading the charge of students through the woods to safety.

"They were all panicked so I was trying to keep them calm and tell them it was alright," he recalled.

"While we had him and he was safe, I didn't cry until much later, hearing about his leadership," said Lynse.

She was flooded with messages from other parents and students about her son’s actions.

"Please hug your son, he did so good tonight," one read. "Your kid helped my kid feel calm."

"Kie was a leader, he made sure people followed him," said another. “I knew if I was with Kie, we were going to be fine.”

Then, she heard the firsthand account from him.

"I jumped over [the] fence and ran as fast as I could to the other side," Kie said. "I laid down on this hill and I got a call from my dad."

"I can hear him guiding people telling them to lay down and be quiet,” Lynse said, talking about the phone call. “And then at some point he was like we need to move we have to go now. We've got to get to the road.”

"I got all the people with me, and we made it over there to the opening then we ran as fast as we could through the woods until we got to the road,” said Kie.

That’s where he was reunited with his mother, who says she didn't think twice about what she did next.

"We just started loading them up. Get in the car get in the car,” Lynse said, describing swarms of lost, terrified kids. "It didn't matter whose kid it was, that was your kid in that moment."

Despite the fear and the terror, the stories of heroes ring out.

“They weren’t leaving each other behind,” Lynse said.