Bravery
Jean-Luc Gallo (ON 2015) has recently been awarded a Bravery Medal by the Governor General of Australia for his role in restraining a violent attacker in one of his tutorials at the ANU in August 2017.
On 25 August 2017, Mr Jean-Luc Gallo intervened during a violent attack at a university in the
Australian Capital Territory.
At 9:15am Mr Gallo was attending a university lecture when he heard a female classmate begin to scream. From the front of the room, Mr Gallo saw a man, armed with a metal baseball bat, violently attack and injure a number of students. The lecturer was writing on the whiteboard and had her back to the commotion.
The offender then began to attack the lecturer from behind. He struck the lecturer several times knocking her to the ground. Using a book to protect herself the lecturer attempted to disarm the attacker before trying to move away.
Without hesitation, Mr Gallo stood up from his seat and challenged the attacker, causing the offender to turn his attention to him. The attacker then struck Mr Gallo a number of times whilst he advanced on the man in order to subdue him.
Despite his injuries, Mr Gallo managed to wrap his arms around the offender’s chest and pin his arms down. He then called for assistance from other students. Momentarily Mr Gallo released one of the offender’s arms which enabled the man to grab hold of the lecturer’s hair in an attempt to continue the attack.
Mr Gallo and others quickly restrained the man and held him until further assistance arrived.
By his actions, Mr Gallo displayed considerable bravery.
