A Border Patrol agent is being hailed as a hero over a report that the officer rushed into the scene of a mass shooting in order to shoot and kill the 18-year-old assailant.
The disturbing incident unfolded at the Robb Elementary School at a small farming community of Uvalde 85 miles west of San Antonio, Texas. At least 18 elementary students and 3 teachers were killed according to the latest count by Texas law enforcement officials.
An Associated Press report said that a Border Patrol agent was nearby when the shooting began and he rushed into the fray while the gunman was barricaded inside the school.
That agent was wounded in the confrontation, but he was able to walk out of the school.
Another report from Fox News reporter Bill Melugin said the agent was with the Border Patrol Tactical Unit and he went into the school with a tactical team while law enforcement officers were engaged with the barricaded shooter.
Homeland Security assistant secretary of public affairs Marsha Espinosa said in a statement that Border Patrol agents responded to a call for assistance from Texas law enforcement and entered the building.
“Risking their own lives, these Border Patrol Agents and other officers put themselves between the shooter and children on the scene to draw the shooter’s attention away from potential victims and save lives,” added Espinosa.
She confirmed that one Border Patrol agent was injured.
“On-and-off duty Border Patrol Agents arrived on the scene to assist with transferring students safely to their families and providing medical support,” she concluded.
Officials said that the suspect had shot his 66-year-old grandmother before he went on to the mass shooting at the school.
Parents of the elementary students were still waiting to be reunited with their children late into Tuesday evening.
Here’s more about the harrowing shooting:
Mass shooting at elementary school in Uvalde, Texas www.youtube.com