Page 9 - Florida Sentinel 8-6-19

Page Nine
Soldier Saves Children During Mass Shooting In Texas
Army Pfc. Glendon Oakley was shopping for a jersey Saturday when a child came into the El Paso, Texas, store and said there was a shooter at the nearby Wal- mart.
Oakley told CNN no one in the store, including him, paid attention because they didn't understand what the child was talking about. Oakley said he then walked to another store.
That's when things went wrong.
"I just heard two gun- shots and a whole bunch of people started running around and screaming," Oakley said.
As mayhem erupted over the next five to seven min- utes, the armed Oakley planned to go with others who ran out of the store to- ward the gunshots.
"But I see a whole bunch of kids running around with- out their parents. Only thing I think of is pick up as many kids I can as possible," Oak- ley said.
He and another man began corralling children. There were about 13, Oakley said, but he could only carry three.
"I was just focused on the kids, I wasn't really worried about myself. So just put my head down and just ran as fast as I could," he said. "They were anxious, when they were in my arms, they were trying to jump out of my arms but trying to keep them as tight as possible.
They are kids, so they don't understand what is going on."
Once he saw police, he said he let the kids go and pulled out his phone "in case they were going to shoot me and started recording while I was running."
Oakley said he wasn't concerned with his safety, rather getting the children out of harm's way.
"I was just thinking about if I had a child and I wasn't around, how I would want another man to react if they saw my child running around," Oakley said.
Oakley told CNN affiliate KFOX that he did what he was supposed to do and he doesn't want the limelight on him.
"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 as he broke down in tears Sunday. "I'm just focused on the kids I could not get and the families that were lost. It hurts me, like, they were part of me. I don't even know the people that died or the kids that I took with me ... I want to reach out to the families that were lost and the fami- lies that lost their children because the focus should not be on me."
CNN attempted to reach the soldier on Sunday.
Oakley said the media's focus should be on the world and the shooting in Ohiol.
The spotlight should not be on me right now," he said.
PFC. GLENDON OAKLEY
"I need the media to go out to the families and make sure they're OK ... I understand what I did was heroic, but I did that because that's what I was trained to do and that's what the military has taught me to do."
At first, Army Pfc. Glendon Oakley Jr., was
completely unaware of the chaos unfolding just around the corner. Then he pulled his gun.
A 22-year-old Army auto- mated logistics specialist as- signed to the 504th Composite Supply Company, 142nd Combat Support Sus- tainment Battalion, 1st Ar- mored Division Sustainment Brigade at Fort Bliss, Texas, Oakley had been shopping at a sporting goods store inside the Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso when a young child burst into the store shouting about an active shooter at the nearby Walmart.
"The guy at the register and I sort of looked at each other," Oakley told Task & Purpose in a phone interview on Saturday. "He's a little kid ... are you going to believe him?"
The threat was very real. At least 20 people were killed and dozens more wounded when a gunman opened fire at the Walmart, sending ter- rified bystanders fleeing through the neighboring mall.
When Oakley exited the store minutes later and headed to the neighboring Footlocker, he finally heard the sound of gunfire echoing across the mall. He immedi- ately pulled the Glock 9mm he occasionally carries under Texas’s concealed carry laws. While he had just returned from an incident-free de- ployment to Kuwait, this was not his first firefight.
"That's what you do," he told Task & Purpose. "You pull your gun, you find cover, and you figure out what to do next."
Local
Back-To-School Event Rescheduled
The Back-To-School event being hosted by House of Wood- bury Arts has been rescheduled for Saturday, August 10th.
The Back-To-School Roller Skating Bash scheduled for Cur- tis Hixon Park was postponed last Saturday (August 3rd) be- cause of inclement weather.
The daytime activities for the children and their parents be- gins this Saturday at 12 noon and last until 4 p. m. There will be loads of activities and give-aways, Richard Woodbury said.
Later in the evening, 6-10 p. m., adults are invited to the park to have some fun before the kids return to school. Music will be by DJ Zay.
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