A U.S. Customs officer who was off duty at the time of the Uvalde, Texas shooting rushed inside the elementary school armed with his barber's gun and was able to save dozens of children.
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Jacob Albarado had just sat down to get a haircut when he received a disturbing message from his wife, a fourth-grade teacher at Robb Elementary School, he told The New York Times.
“There is a shooter”, “Help”, “I love you”, she sent by text message, reports the New York media.
The man immediately got up from his seat, grabbed his barber's shotgun and rushed towards the school.
Jacob Albarado's daughter, who is in second grade, was locked in a bathroom while his wife hid under a desk with her students, reports The New York Times.
When the man arrived at the school, a tactical team was preparing to enter the school.
Desperate to get his wife and daughter out of school, Jacob Albarado colluded with other police to try to enter the school and evacuate as many students as possible.
According to what he told The New York Times, he walked into the wing of the school his daughter was in and got in to look for her.
As he advanced, he evacuated the classes on his way.
Two police officers, who had their rifles drawn, provided cover for the evacuation while two others guided the “hysterical” children and teachers outside, the hero described.
When he found his eight-year-old daughter, he hugged her, but he kept moving forward to keep more children safe.
“I did what I was trained to do,” he told The New York Times.
In a Facebook post he made shortly after midnight on Wednesday morning, Jacob Albarado claimed that a friend of his daughter's was among the 19 students who were killed.
“I am so angry, saddened and grateful at the same time. Only time will heal their pain and hopefully changes will be made in every school in the United States and teachers will be trained and allowed to carry a weapon to protect themselves and their students." he writes in the publication reported by the New York Post.
