<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1654089489923,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000179-379a-dbb2-a7fd-bfda8bfc0000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1654089489923,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000179-379a-dbb2-a7fd-bfda8bfc0000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_54089484", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1023159"} }); ","_id":"00000181-1f6a-db34-a5d5-9ffe91b40000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedThe off-duty Border Patrol agent who rushed into the Texas elementary school during a mass shooting last week defended local law enforcement’s response despite criticism from his own agency that local police took too long to intervene.
It took up to an hour on Tuesday, May 24, before federal agents overruled orders from local police and killed the shooter in defiance of guidance not to proceed, according to the most recently available information about the timeline of events. However, Jacob Albarado, an off-duty Border Patrol agent who responded to the scene, disagreed that police could have done more.
UVALDE SHOOTER’S GRANDMOTHER RAN INTO STREET SCREAMING AFTER BEING SHOT: NEIGHBOR
“To me, I believe everyone there was doing the best that they could, given the circumstances,” Albarado told NBC’s Today. “I believe everyone was doing everything in their power.”
Albarado said he was getting a haircut when he received a text from his wife, a fourth grade teacher at Robb Elementary School, saying there was an active shooter inside the building. The agent rushed to the school to save his wife and daughter, a student who was also inside the building at the time.
“The police were breaking out the windows from the outside, and the kids were jumping out through the window,” Albarado said. “As I was coming in, I could just see kids coming out the windows and kids coming my way, so I was just helping all the kids out.”
Local law enforcement on the scene recognized Albarado and let him through the crowds to help rescue children escaping through broken windows, he said.
“I just announced who I was and made my way toward my wife’s room,” Albarado said. “I just saw a whole bunch of kids running out, running off campus, jumping through the windows, cops breaking windows.”
Albarado was among the first to arrive. The agent “basically said, ‘Let’s get this done,’” and he began planning a way to get into the room, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official told the Washington Post. More Border Patrol Tactical Unit agents arrived around 15 minutes later, and within minutes of getting a key to unlock the door, a variety of law enforcement officers followed a leading BORTAC agent holding a ballistic shield provided by a U.S. marshal.
The testimony gives a clearer view into the timeline of the mass shooting carried out by 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, who is accused of killing 19 children and two teachers at the school. The incident is the second-deadliest school shooting in the United States in decades.
The mass shooting is under investigation as police attempt to determine a motive and timeline.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Investigators are also looking into the slow response of law enforcement during the attack after receiving reports of officials being told not to engage despite videos of desperate parents begging police to intervene amid the barrage of bullets.
Uvalde is a town of roughly 16,000 people and is situated between San Antonio and Del Rio. The town is just dozens of miles away from the U.S.-Mexico border and has a Border Patrol station.
