An off-duty Texas Border Patrol agent rushed into Robb Elementary School with a shotgun and rescued several-dozen children and his daughter during a mass shooting on Tuesday after his wife sent him a text message.
Jacob Albarado told the New York Times that he was getting a haircut when he received a message from his wife, a fourth-grade teacher at the school in Uvalde.
“There’s an active shooter,” she wrote, according to Albarado. “Help,” she sent, adding: “I love you.”
Albarado said he got out of his seat and took the barber’s shotgun to the school. His daughter, who went to the school, was locked inside a bathroom while his wife hid underneath desks with students, he told the outlet.
The suspect, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, shot and killed 19 students and two teachers in another part of the school. Officials on Thursday said that he shot his grandmother, texted a stranger online that he was going to shoot up a school, crashed a truck, fired shots at a funeral home, and then apparently walked into the school, which was unlocked.
Albarado said he entered the school where his daughter was located before “clearing all the classes in her wing,” he told the paper. “I did what I was trained to do,” Albarado added.
He recalled that two police officers with guns drawn provided cover to him while two others led dozens of children and teachers to the sidewalk.
In a Facebook post, Albarado argued that teachers should be able to carry firearms in class.
“I’m so angry, saddened, and grateful all at once. Only time will heal their pain and hopefully changes will be made at all schools in the U.S. and teachers will be trained & allowed to carry in order to protect themselves and students,” he said this week.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
