The story of the tragic mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, last week has many chapters and has undergone significant revision since initial reports presented local law enforcement as heroes.
On Tuesday, a Border Patrol agent shared about the “chaos” he encountered when he responded to the emergency.
Jacob Albarado was off duty at the time of the shooting. He told NBC’s “Today” show that he was about to get a haircut when he received a text from his wife — a fourth grade teacher at Robb Elementary.
The text read: “There is an active shooter, help, I love you.”
Adding to his fears is that his daughter is a student at the school.
Albarado told NBC he grabbed a shotgun and raced to the school, “as fast as I could.”
When he arrived at the school, Albarado said he saw “just chaos” as “everyone was trying to get to the school.” That is, everyone except law enforcement personnel.
“I was just trying to get towards my wife’s room and my daughter’s room,” Albarado recounted. “I went back to my [friend’s] truck; he got me his shotgun. He gave me some shells, I put whatever shells I had in my pocket and then I took off running towards the school.”
Albarado told NBC that as he approached the school, “I could see kids coming out of the windows and kids coming my way, so I was just helping all the kids out.”
“At one point, I was there at the door, fixing to go in, but I didn’t have any of my gear; it wouldn’t have been a smart move for me,” Albarado said, noting that the police on-the-scene had gear but were not entering the school.
“All of those guys had their gear and stuff,” Albarado recalled.
Thankfully, Albarado soon received word from his wife that she was able to leave the building. The emotional Albarado said, “When I saw my daughter it was a big relief.”
Albarado reported that he “cleared out the rooms.”
“All of her friends, I could just see their faces – half of them, fine, the other ones, panicking and crying. I was just trying to keep them as calm as they could as they were evacuating.”
RTM commends the courage and initiative of the off-duty, unprotected and untrained men and women who risked their lives to protect the children at Robb Elementary School.
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