By Amanda Spence
SHELBY COUNTY, Ala. — A school resource officer in Alabama received a moving letter from the mother of a woman he rescued in 2013 from an armed man in her middle school.
Shelby County Deputy David Morrow saved the woman’s daughter, who the man took hostage along with four others, and the letter he received made him emotional.
“When I got the letter, I teared up and cried. It touched me deeply,” Deputy Morrow told WBMA, Fox News reported.
Morrow was given the letter by Deanna O’Neal in June this year, and she thanked him for his efforts in rescuing her daughter during the armed hostage situation that took place at Chelsea Middle School in the locker room. O’Neal wrote the sentiments after her daughter, now a grown woman, graduated from the University of Alabama.
“After watching how the Uvalde tragedy unfolded – I wanted you to know how thankful I am that you did not hesitate to run into that locker room for those girls,” O’Neal wrote in her letter. “I wanted you to see that scared 13-year-old turned into an incredible young lady who is living her life to the fullest. Thank you for thinking of her first on that scary day. You are always in my prayers.”
Ryan Matthew Sims, who is currently being held in a mental health institution, took five girls hostage in the middle school’s locker room in 2013. Morrow and the school’s principal raced to the scene, confronting Sims, who happened to be a part-time employee at the school and a former student. Together, Morrow and the principal were able to defuse the tense hostage situation.
“That man, [Sims] that day remembered me as his SRO,” Morrow said. “I was able to talk to him, along with the principal.”
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