black veteran saves employees, kids in el paso shooting

In what seems like the hundredth time, America was shaken to its core this weekend after a series of mass gun violence. In El Paso, Texas, a deranged Trump supporter stormed a local Walmart where he opened fire killing at least 22 people and injuring at least 24. Posting an online manifesto where he expressed racist and xenophobic comments which mirrored the same racist and xenophobic language used by Donald Trump, the shooter made it clear that his motives were racially driven.

For better or worse, when American’s like Army Pfc. Glendon Oakley Jr. finds themselves in what are increasingly frequent mass shootings, they spring into action to protect lives instead of taking them. While shopping at a nearby sporting goods store, Oakley Jr. was alerted by a child that a shooting inside the mall was taking place. Approaching the sounds of flying bullets, Oakley pulled out his own Glock 9mm and approached a Foot Locker. Here, he ran into scared employees who had changed their minds about hiding in the store and attempted to exit the mall. Protecting them the best he could, Oakley escorted the employees towards an exit. On the way out, the group encountered a dozen terrified children looking for their parents.

“I didn’t even think. I just grabbed as many kids as I could and ran five stores down to the exit,” he said. “We got there and ran into a whole batch of police pointing their guns at us. I wasn’t focused on myself, and I wasn’t focused on my surroundings… I was just focused on those kids.”

Army Pfc. Glendon Oakley Jr. is a father who served 31 years in the Army before retiring as a sergeant major in 2011. His mother, also retired in 2001, was a master sergeant and his sister, Glenda Oakley is a retired captain.