Boy receiving Citizen Honor Award for shielding classmate during school shooting in Minneapolis
Victor Greenawalt, a Citizen Honor Award recipient, poses with his mother in Washington, D.C., March 24, 2026. (Congressional Medal of Honor Society)
(MINNEAPOLIS) — A 11-year-old boy from Minneapolis will be recognized with a Citizen Honor Award in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday for helping save a classmate’s life during a mass shooting at their school.
Victor Greenawalt is among this year’s six honorees — five individuals and one nonprofit — for showing “extraordinary bravery far beyond his years,” the Congressional Medal of Honor Society said in a statement. “Instinctively, Victor protected a classmate with his own body, directly saving their life.”
Victor was injured when he used his body to shield his friend from the gunfire at Annunciation Catholic School, according to MPR News.
“My friend Victor, like, saved me though. He laid on top of me, but he got hit,” the friend, Weston Halsne, told Minneapolis station KARE last year. “He was really brave.”
An 8-year-old and 10-year-old sitting in pews were killed and many others were injured when the shooter opened fire through the windows of the school’s church on Aug. 27, 2025. The shooter died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
Victor is receiving the young hero award, which honors Americans 17 years old or younger “for their courage in a dire situation,” the Congressional Medal of Honor Society said.
In this image released by the Walton County Sheriffs Office, law enforment vehicles are shown at the scene of a stabbing investigation at Walton Middle School in Defuniak, Fla., on March 24, 2026. (Walton County Sheriff’s Office, Florida)
(DEFUNIAK SPRINGS, Fla.) — A middle school student is in custody after allegedly stabbing two children and one adult at his Florida school on Tuesday, authorities said.
The attack — which happened in less than 45 seconds — unfolded after the suspect was dropped off at 7:17 a.m. at Walton Middle School in DeFuniak Springs in the Florida Panhandle, Sheriff Michael Adkinson said.
The school was not fully open at the time and there were about 40 students in the building, Adkinson said at a news conference.
The suspect allegedly went into a bathroom and then emerged a few minutes later wearing a mask and armed with a “sharp implement,” the sheriff said.
The boy allegedly went up to a fellow student and stabbed them multiple times, Adkinson said. He then allegedly went down the hall and attacked an adult, and then stabbed another child, the sheriff said.
The suspect fled but was apprehended near the school about seven minutes after the stabbings, Adkinson said.
The two children were seriously injured: one was life-flighted to a hospital in Pensacola and the other was taken to Fort Walton-Destin Hospital, a level two trauma center, the sheriff said. The wounded adult was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, he said.
The sheriff did not discuss a potential motive.
The school canceled classes for the day, the sheriff’s office said.
Massachusetts State Police said at least one person was left wounded after a gunman began shooting into traffic in Cambridge on Monday afternoon. (ABC News)
(CAMBRIDGE, Mass.) — Two people were shot and left with life-threatening injuries after a gunman began shooting into traffic in Cambridge on Monday afternoon near Harvard University, according to officials.
Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said during a press briefing after the incident that a gunman with an assault-style rifle was “actively firing in an erratic fashion at various vehicles.”
The shooting occurred in the vicinity of Memorial Drive and River Street before 1:30 p.m.
A trooper and a civilian, a former Marine, fired their weapons and struck the gunman, who was later identified as Tyler Brown, multiple times, according to the DA. Brown is under arrest and is hospitalized, Ryan said.
Brown is now facing six new felony charges, including two for assault with intent to murder.
He was under probation supervision for a previous crime, according to the DA.
Brown was sentenced to five to six years in state prison and three years of probation in August 2021 after he fired at Boston Police. Brown pleaded guilty to eight charges, including armed assault with intent to murder and attempted assault and battery by means of discharging a firearm, according to a 2021 statement from the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office.
Brown was also previously required to undergo a mental health evaluation and treatment, according to the DA’s office.
Brown was also on probation at the time of the 2021 incident for a 2014 assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (knife) and witness intimidation conviction, according to the DA’s office. He was sentenced to four to five years in state prison for violating his probation to be served concurrently.
The DA’s office had recommended Brown be sentenced 10 to 12 years, criticizing the lower sentence.
“My office recommended a significant sentence for Mr. Brown given the nature of his offenses and the trauma andharm he inflicted. I am disappointed in the sentence that was imposed,” then-District Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a 2021 statement.
The two people who were struck by gunfire were in their vehicles at the time.
Aerial footage from ABC News’ Boston affiliate WCVB showed the gunman being apprehended by police at the scene.
WCVB footage also showed a black Dodge sedan off the side of the road after an apparent crash.
A rifle was seen on the grass in the area, according to WCVB.
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey said in a statement that there is no ongoing threat to the public, but asked that residents “avoid the area to allow public safety personnel to do their work.”
Lisa Schill, a witness to the shooting, told WCVB she was in a school van on the way to pick up kids at school. She said she left the van and began running from the incident on foot.
“I was running for my life,” Schill told the publication.
