1st place
Pasadena Independent School District Police Department, Pasadena, TX
One early morning last October, a school district in Texas received information regarding a threat towards an elementary school obtained through a phone call and online chat with the Veteran's Crisis Hotline. The caller, who would not identify himself, threatened to stage a shooting at the elementary school at 3 p.m. that day using an AK-47 assault rifle. The only information available from the conversations was the suspect's phone number, several screen names, and the IP address from the chat session that provided coordinates to two geographic areas inside the city. The resulting fast work of the Pasadena Independent School District Police Department, with help from the FBI, Secret Service, Coast Guard, and Texas Rangers, is a heroic story in which the suspect was found and detained before any harm could be done to the school.
Everyday Heroes