Border agent at Uvalde shooting describes scene as ‘complete chaos’

The agent borrowed his barber’s shotgun and ran to the school on foot

One of the US Border Patrol agents who rushed into Robb Elementary School on the day of the Uvalde mass shooting described the scene as "complete chaos”, and recounted how he learned of the shooting from his wife, who is a teacher at the school.

Jacob Albarado, the agent, was off duty on the day of the shooting. He told Fox News that he was getting a haircut when his wife, Trisha, reached out to him via text.

"There's an active shooter ... help ... I love you," she wrote.

Mr Albarado did not have his weapon as he was off-duty at the time, so he borrowed his barber's shotgun and ran to the school on foot.

Follow the latest updates on the Uvalde mass shooting

He recalled the frenzy of the scene when he arrived.

"I just announced who I was and made my way toward my wife's room," he said. "I just saw a whole bunch of kids running out, running off campus, jumping through the windows, cops breaking windows."

He described it as "complete chaos”, and said he finally was able to contact his wife on the phone after she managed to escape her classroom. She fled to a nearby funeral home with others who has escaped the school.

While his wife was safe, the agent was still worried about his daughter, Jayda, who attends the school.

At the time, the girl was locked in a bathroom, but Mr Albarado was not aware of the that, so he proceeded to move through the classrooms in his daughters wing to clear classrooms.

"It was just complete chaos. Everybody was concerned for their child," he recalled. "I was able to get on campus… I wasn't just trying to save my child, I was trying to get as many people out of there as I could."

He moved from room to room ensuring there were no threats and told the children inside to flee the school.

"I cleared out all the rooms there. Saw (my daughter's) friends there," he told the TODAY Show. "All her friends, I could just see their faces, half of them fine, half of them panicking, crying. I was just trying to keep them as calm as I could as they were evacuating.”

He told the outlet that the 18-year-old gunman had apparently moved past his wife's classroom and had focused on rooms on the other side of the same hallway where she taught.