National, Regional and Local News

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

[JazzNU]

Heroic officer rushed into Uvalde school with barber’s shotgun to save daughter, wife

By Patrick Reilly


An off-duty US Customs and Border Protection agent fearlessly rushed into Robb Elementary School with his barber’s shotgun and rescued dozens of children and his daughter after his wife texted him that there was an active shooter.

Jacob Albarado had just sat down for a haircut when he received the horrifying message from his wife, Trisha, a fourth-grade teacher at the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school, he told the New York Times.

“There’s an active shooter,” she wrote. “Help,” she sent before sending a chilling: “I love you.”

He immediately leaped out of his seat, grabbed the barber’s shotgun and sped off toward the school.

His daughter, a second-grader, was locked inside a bathroom while his wife hid under desks with her students, the Times reported.

In another wing of the school, 18-year-old crazed gunman Salvador Ramos had opened fire and ultimately murdered 19 children and two teachers.

A tactical team was preparing to enter the school when Albarado arrived. Desperate to get his daughter and wife out, he made a plan with other officers to try to enter the school and evacuate as many students as possible.

He said he entered the wing of the school where he knew his daughter was located, and as he searched for her, began “clearing all the classes in her wing,” he told the Times.

Two officers with guns drawn provided cover while two others guided dozens of “hysterical” children and teachers out to the sidewalk, he said.

When Albarado finally saw his 8-year-old daughter, Jayda, they embraced, but he kept moving forward to bring more students to safety.

“I did what I was trained to do,” Albarado told the paper.

In a Facebook post just after midnight Wednesday morning, Albarado said one of his daughter’s teammates and friends was among the 19 students who were killed.

“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 wrote.

https://nypost.com/2022/05/27/cbp-offic ... -daughter/

[JazzNU]

^^ So, this was part of a NYT article. So, many of the kids they've been showing that were led to safety, were led there by off-duty officers from other agencies that were not working in their professional capacity, but as concerned parents and thank goodness helped others along with saving his wife and daughter. But that is hardly what officials were suggesting when they were reporting kids being led to safety. We knew other agencies were involved, but not like this, not leading the charge because the officers on the scene weren't doing anything but waiting. This is a freaking mess.

[ti-amie]

It's been a few years since I was in elementary school but I seem to remember janitors and custodians having master keys so I don't understand why it took an hour for someone to come with a key to unlock a door while 19 officers stood around waiting. None of this makes sense.

[ti-amie]

[ponchi101]

So the reality in the USA is now this.
These psychos that kill people are armed with such high power weapons that even the police is afraid to engage them.

[ti-amie]

[JazzNU]

It's been a few years since I was in elementary school but I seem to remember janitors and custodians having master keys so I don't understand why it took an hour for someone to come with a key to unlock a door while 19 officers stood around waiting. None of this makes sense.

They should, but even if they don't - Since when can't the fire department in particular get into a locked building? I've seen a few people point this out, Kerry Sanders of NBC being the loudest. It is part of what they do, locked, chained, etc, they get thru all of it and if they can't they enter thru a window, so the locked door makes no sense when they try to act like that was a big part of the time delay.

[Owendonovan]

It's all so incredibly disappointing the abject failure of these responses in both Buffalo, if true, and Robb Elementary.

[JazzNU]

The gun manufacturer, Daniel Defense, that made the AR-15 used in Uvalde backed out of the conference as well. I'm assuming to avoid answering questions and being the target of protestors. This is the upstanding company that recently had ads showing a toddler was cradling a rifle.

[mmmm8]

My favorite and oft-cited podcast, Planet Money, just ran this, which covers recently released tapes from internal NRA meetings after Columbine, when the NRA Convention was scheduled in Denver close to the event (there's an article if click in the image as well as the audio):

[Deuce]

If not the police, then who handles these situations. I'm not saying it's easy for the police in any way, I'm saying they are the people who we, as a society, have chosen to handle these extremely dangerous situations. I wasn't there, I don't know what it was like, but I can see it from both sides, and by most accounts, the expectations society has put on the police was not met.

Perhaps the expectations of society are unfair and/or based in ignorance.
'Society' has never been in a situation even remotely similar to the circumstances the police find themselves in in these situations.
How can 'society' possibly then have expectations of someone's performance in a situation without knowing what it's like to be in that situation?

You can't rehearse for these situations - because a REAL life or death situation cannot be adequately simulated due to the emotional and psychological factors involved.
Personally, I think that 'society' should shut up and stop criticizing things they know nothing about.

Meanwhile, as the infinite examples above show, the media (sometimes via 'social media') are sensationalizing this tragic event to the absolute maximum degree possible - THEY'RE PUTTING CHILDREN WHO WERE IN THE CLASSROOM ON MORNING TALK SHOWS, FOR CHRIST SAKE!!! - all of this ensuring that the people out there who have ideas about committing a similar crime are assured that everyone will hear about them and their crime, thus making the risk 'worth it' to them.
There's more to come, people - with or without gun control... the media outlets are making damned sure that they'll have these tragedies to 'report on' for many, many years to come.
It makes me absolutely sick.

[Owendonovan]

Perhaps the expectations are unfair, but I'd say based on expected training, not ignorance. I 100% agree with your media assessment. Unfortunately, this world is run by marketing and advertising. Local news isn't really news, it's a competition to report on who had the worst day, hit by car, fell from building, drowned in back yard pool etc. The best anyone can currently do personally is limit what is watched and read. for some reason, people love a story of woe and misery.

[ti-amie]