Jacob Albarado was at the barbers when he found out about the active shooting. Photo / news.com.au
Jacob Albarado was at the barbers when he found out about the active shooting. Photo / news.com.au
The actions of a US Border Patrol agent helped rescue dozens of schoolchildren after an 18-year-old gunman stormed a primary school in Uvalde, Texas.
Jacob Albarado was getting a haircut when he received a text message from his wife and teacher, Trisha, who told him there was an active shooter at her school. His 8-year-old daughter Jayda was also a student at the school.
"There's an active shooter," she wrote, as reported by the New York Times.
This was followed by "Help," and then: "I love you."
Albarado left the hairdressers with a shotgun borrowed from his barber and headed to the school.
When he arrived, he learnt that the shooter, Salvador Ramos, was in a different wing to his daughter's classroom. While a tactical team had been assigned to the gunman, Albarado turned his attention to the other locked-down students.
"I'm looking for my daughter, but I also know what wing she's in," he said, "so I start clearing all the classes in her wing."
Jacinto Cazares' daughter Jacklyn Cazares died in Tuesday's attack. Photo / Supplied
Together with two officers who provided cover, and another two who guided children onto the sidewalk, the team helped dozens of students and teachers escape from their classroom, including his daughter.
Describing the moment he finally saw his daughter, Albarado said he gave her a hug and continued the evacuation.
"I did what I was trained to do," he said.
Parents criticise police response
While Albarado helped assist the rescue of the students from a different wing to the one terrorised by Ramos, parents have criticised how police handled the shooting.
In the days after the attack, Jacinto Cazares, whose 10-year-old daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, was slain in the attack, criticised police for their slow response, as Ramos spent an estimated 40 minutes to an hour in the school.
"There was at least 40 lawmen armed to the teeth but didn't do a darn thing [until] it was far too late," he told ABC News.
"The situation could've been over quick if they had better tactical training, and we as a community witnessed it first-hand."
Livestream footage shared by the Washington Post also showed anguished parents begging the police to save their children.
The livestreamed footage captured the unbearable anguish as parents rushed to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. Photo / news.com.au
In one clip, one man can be seen yelling: "You know that they are kids right?
