OK Co. Sheriff Honors Mark Vaughan With Medal Of Valor

He's been called an executive and a deputy.

Now, most refer to Mark Vaughan as a hero.

After the beheading of one of his employees at Vaughan Foods in Moore, Mark was able to save a second victim.

For the first time since Sept., Mark and the woman he saved spoke out.

Mark Vaughan has been called a hero and an angel by the people he saved on that day.

But in his own words, he only considered himself prepared.

Sept. 25, 2014 was a day that Mark Vaughan recounted in an interview with the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Department and a day when he became a hero to many.

Mark was sitting in his office as Vaughan Foods when he received a call from security that a man beheaded one woman and was about to do the same to another.

9/26/2014 Related Story: Police: Former Employee Beheaded Woman At Moore Workplace

A reserve sheriff's deputy, Mark grabbed his rifle from his car.

"It was a very chaotic scene people were yelling and screaming," said Vaughan.

Mark then made it to the area where the suspect, Alton Nolen, was attacking Traci Johnson.

"I yelled at him to stop and he did and shortly thereafter he approached me at a run with the knife and I did what I had to do," said Vaughan.

Mark shot Nolen.

"It's because of him I'm on this earth, he's an angel," said Traci Johnson, the woman who survived the attack.

Left with only a scare on her neck, Johnson said she can't thank her once boss, now angel, enough.

"From the bottom of my heart, if it wasn't for you I wouldn't be on this earth right now. I wouldn't be living. It's because of you I get another life," said Johnson.

But the title of hero is something Mark said he would substitute as simply prepared.

"The fact that I was there was exactly what was needed at that exact time as things came together and I am very grateful that I was there. I don't know how I would be mentally if I wasn't," said Vaughan.

For those heroic acts the Oklahoma County Sheriff recently honored Vaughan with the Medal of Valor.

12/9/2014 Related Story: Reserve Deputy Mark Vaughan Honored With Award Of Valor