Officer honored for actions during winter incident at CHS

SHALIMAR — Okaloosa County Sheriff Charlie Morris recently honored one of his men with the agency’s highest decoration, the Medal of Valor.

Sgt. Bobby Maloney is only the second sheriff’s office lawman to receive the medal.

He was recognized for peacefully disarming at great personal risk a teenager who brought a loaded .380-caliber pistol to Crestview High School on Feb. 12.

Maloney said he was glad to receive the award but credited just about everyone at the high school for handling the volatile incident with smarts instead of panic.

For the sheriff’s office deputy, the confrontation with the 17-year-old boy came down to a standoff at the school’s football stadium.

He had cut off the teenager’s escape route. The boy had the gun in hand, forcing Maloney to draw his pistol. Only a chain-link fence and several feet separated the two.

“I’ve been in classrooms with him before. I did know the student,” said the sergeant. “I was very scared that I may have to shoot a child. I don’t want to hurt anybody. That’s the last thing I wanted to do was hurt a child. But, at the same time, I didn’t want him to hurt anybody.”

Sheriff’s office Cpl. Greg Porch, a school resource officer at Crestview High, nominated Maloney for the medal.

He arrived at the standoff’s scene to back Maloney. The teenager had run from the school and was heading for a stretch of woods near the stadium.

Porch, prepared to take action if the young man raised his gun, said Maloney was methodical. The sergeant managed to control the situation without forcing the young man into a desperate act.

When the boy moved to the left to try to climb the fence, Maloney moved with him. When the teenager moved right, the sergeant also shifted.

“Bobby told him to drop the gun. It was to the point where he was (pleading with) the boy to put the gun down,” said Porch.

The boy eventually threw the gun into the back of a close by pickup truck. No shots had been fired. No one was injured.

Maloney then handcuffed the teenager, driving him back to school for questioning.

It’s likely that Maloney preempted a situation that could have gone fatally wrong at any moment, according to Porch.

“It could have turned into a local tragedy,” he said.

The boy was charged with several crimes, including possession of a firearm on school grounds and possession of a firearm by an adjudicated delinquent. Lawmen determined he didn’t bring the gun to school to kill anyone.