Off-duty soldier hailed as hero for saving children during El Paso shooting wants no praise: 'That's what I was trained to do'
A 22-year-old off-duty Army serviceman is being hailed a hero after he ran into the Walmart during Saturday’s deadly mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, and saved as many children as he could from the raining bullets.
Glendon Oakley Jr., an automated logistics specialist serving in the 504th Composite Supply Company, 142nd Combat Support Sustainment Battalion, 1st Armored Division Sustainment Brigade at Fort Bliss, Texas, was shopping at a sporting goods store inside the Cielo Vista Mall, located near the shooting site, when a kid ran up him and the store manager and said that there was an active shooter situation in Walmart.
Although the threat was very real, the soldier, who had recently returned from a deployment in Kuwait, admitted in an interview with Task and Purpose that he initially did not believe the kid. "The guy at the register and I sort of looked at each other," Oakley told the outlet. "He's a little kid ... are you going to believe him?"
Only when he exited the store minutes later and was going to another store nearby that Oakley finally heard the sound of gunfire coming from the mall.
As was second nature to him, he immediately went into combat mode, pulling out the Glock 9mm he occasionally carried and began grabbing as many children as he could and bringing them to safety as terrified bystanders fled from the neighboring mall.
"I did that because that's what I was trained to do. That is what the military has taught me to do," he told reporters Sunday, ABC News reported. "But I really want you guys to focus on the people that are actually grieving through this. Yes, I'm grieving, but I'm not the one that lost a family member. Yes, it feels like I have lost one. But they are the ones that need to be the [focus]."
He added that when he came upon a dozen children clustered in one of the mall's open play areas, screaming for their parents, he tried to get as many bystanders to help as he could but none of them were willing to put their lives in danger.
"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."
Although Oakley described the incident as "the worst thing" he's ever seen, he refused to divulge details about what exactly went own inside the mall at the time. "I'm not describing anything," he said. "I didn't get any sleep last night. I don't want to think about what happened because it was tragic."
He added that while he appreciated all the praise he was getting for his actions, he really wanted people to focus on what mattered the most—the victims whose lives were lost in the shooting and their bereaved families.
"What I did was exactly what I was supposed to do. I understand it was heroic and I'm looked at as a hero for it, but that wasn't the reason for me," he said, breaking down in tears. "I'm just focused on the kids that I could not [save] and the families. It hurts me. I feel like they were a part of me. I don't even know the people that died or the kids that I took with me."
The mass shooting ended up claiming the lives of 20 people and injuring more than two dozen.
The suspected gunman, 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, of Allen, Texas, is being held on charges of capital murder.