A Texas Army veteran has volunteered to stand guard outside his daughter’s elementary school following the mass shooting in Uvalde, which took the lives of 19 students and two teachers.
Ed Chelby, who has a background in security and served in the Army for 11 years, said he couldn’t sleep after the devastating school shooting last week.
He sent an email to the superintendent of the Killeen Independent School District as he wanted to guard outside Saegert Elementary School.
To the father’s surprise, the superintendent told him that he could stand by the main entrance.
A grateful mother shared a photo of Chelby standing guard outside the school, and the post immediately went viral.
In an interview with KWTX, Chelby said: “I can’t let this go. I said I would just be out there unarmed to let people know that I’m watching. Let the parents have a little bit of relief.”
“I’ve had a lot of emotional people come up to me,” Chelby said. He said of his fellow parents: “They didn’t want to send their kids to school. They struggled with sending their kids to school. And I told them, I was like, ‘I got them.’
“We’re all struggling with that. You don’t know if you should send your kid to school.
“You want them to get their education and their experiences of the last days of school, but you want to protect them with everything you got.”
For the last two days of the school year, Chelby can be seen patrolling around the school.
Eli Lopez, the school principal, said his efforts were overwhelmingly appreciated by students and parents.
In a statement to Newsweek, Lopez said: “A child should never have to worry for their safety as they come into school, and Mr. Chelby helped ensure that sense of security the last two days of school after a horrific tragedy.”
One mother who shared a photo of him online said: “Him standing in front of the school, that’s reassuring.”
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