Following the death of 19 young kids and two instructors in Uvalde last week, a Texas Army veteran has taken it upon himself to defend his daughter’s elementary school.
In the midst of Tuesday’s terrible gun massacre, Ed Chelby claimed he was having problems sleeping. At 1 a.m., he emailed the superintendent of the Killeen Independent School District, asking if he could stand guard outside Saegert Elementary, where his daughter attends and his wife works as a school nurse.
Chelby, who has a history in security, was advised he could and now only does it while unarmed.
A thankful mother shared a photo of him standing guard online earlier this week, and it instantly went viral.
Chelby expressed he can’t let this go. He said he just stood there unarmed to let folks know I’m watching. Allow the parents to breathe a sigh of relief.
The superintendent surprised Chelby by telling him he could stand guard by the main door and so, for the last two days of the school year, he was spotted patrolling outside the school roughly four hours from Uvalde.
He had a lot of emotional folks approach him, said Chelby, who served in the Army for 11 years and has security experience.
They didn’t want to send their children to school, he claimed of his neighbors. They had difficulty sending their children to school.
He confessed that’s something they are all dealing with. You’re not sure if you should send your child to school. You want them to acquire their schooling and have their last days of school experiences, but you also want to safeguard them with everything you have.
A photo of Chelby standing outside the school has now gone popular on social media, and Eli Lopez, the school’s administrator, said his attempts to restore some feeling of security were immensely welcomed by parents and children.
Samantha Longfeather-Locke, one of the mothers who uploaded the photo of him online, said of him standing in front of the school, that’s reassuring.
Other parents have volunteered to bring him something to drink, and Lopez claimed one woman approached him in tears to thank him for making her and her kid feel comfortable at school.
Lopez stated that Mr. Chelby assisted in guaranteeing feelings of security the last two days of school following a tragic occurrence.
Lopez also mentioned that another mom, a veteran mother, has volunteered to maintain a watch on the rear of the school, and that additional parents have volunteered for a safety program for the next school year.
Lopez added, ‘I checked in on them and communicated my personal thanks, they both remarked how the simple act of being present was the least they could do. I was humbled that they displayed what it means to be a part of a town that looks out for one another.
Neither of them picked this assignment to get notoriety, he continued.
Their efforts come as Texas’ Director of Public Safety Col. Steven McGraw acknowledged that 19 cops stood outside the classroom at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, where the shooter had his victims held captive, but did nothing since they assumed everyone inside was dead, despite ongoing 911 calls from inside from kids pleading for help.
McCraw stated that it was “the incorrect choice” made by the Chief of the Uvalde School District Police Department Pete Arredondo, who wrongly believed that all of the students in the classroom had already been dead.
Police believe the gunman’s subsequent shots were targeted towards the door and intended to keep them at bay.
