Jacob Albarado had only just sat down for a haircut when he turned around and asked his barber to borrow a shotgun.
Albarado, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent and off-duty at the time, needed the firearm, he said, to rescue his wife, Trisha, a fourth-grade teacher at Robb Elementary School. His daughter, a second-grader, was also in the building, locked inside a bathroom, the New York Times reported.
He was mid-trim on Tuesday when he received a chilling text from his wife, alerting him to the mass shooting at the school in Uvalde, a city of about 15,000 near the Mexican border.
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“There’s an active shooter,” she wrote in the first message, which was immediately followed by another. “Help.”
Then she added: “I love you.”
The off-duty officer quickly shifted gears, his instincts from years in law enforcement almost immediately kicking in. Both Albarado and his barber raced to the scene of the mass shooting, shotgun in tow. When they arrived at the elementary school, they learned a tactical team was already in place and preparing to storm the building — but Albarado still wanted to help.
After conferring with law enforcement on the scene, the border patrol agent, armed the firearm his barber gave him, started to make his way toward the wing of the school where he knew his daughter’s classroom was located.
“I start clearing all the classes in her wing,” Albarado told the Times. “They were just all hysterical, of course.”
With assistance of two officers, who provided cover, and another two who escorted the terrified students from the school, Albarado helped evacuate dozens of kids, including his daughter, Jayda. The pair shared a quick hug upon their reunion, but then Albarado moved on and continued to help those still hiding in the building.
A total of 21 people, 19 students and two teachers, were fatally shot in the massacre, allegedly carried out by 18-year-old Salvador Ramos. Police said he was killed by responding officers.
A motive in the shooting remained unknown.
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