Throughout the Uvalde taking pictures, an off-duty federal agent’s spouse texted him for help. “I asked my barber if he had a gun,” he said.

Jacob Albarado was in his barber's chair when both males got text messages about the shooting unfolding at Robb Elementary College in Uvalde, Texas, last week. "There's an active shooter. Help. Love you," Albarado's spouse Trisha said in three messages at 11:41 a.m.

She's a fourth grade teacher on the college, and their daughter is a student there.

"I requested my barber if he had a gun," Albarado, a U.S. Customs and Border Safety agent, instructed CBS News on Wednesday. He had attended an awards ceremony on the faculty earlier that morning and was off duty, with his weapon at home.

The barber did have a gun. Albarado took it, a shotgun, and so they rushed to the chaotic scene. Police officers were already there, and Albarado began serving to.

"Kids are popping out the windows," he stated.

With individuals fleeing to a funeral dwelling across the road, Albarado mentioned he wanted to get inside the college as fast as he could.

"I was acting as a husband and a father," he mentioned.

His spouse let him know she made it to the funeral house, however she instructed him their daughter was locked in a faculty restroom.

"I didn't know what restroom," Albarado mentioned.

He ultimately learned his daughter was in a restroom situated inside her classroom. Albarado met up with two officers near the classroom.

"We need to get the kids out of right here," Albarado mentioned he instructed the officers. "… The shooter's over there. We need to get the kids out. That is our time."

The officers began opening classroom doors, and Albarado mentioned he guided people to safety.

"First classroom, second classroom, third classroom, noticed my daughter," Albarado said. "Relief. Large reduction."

He hugged and kissed her, and shortly she was heading to the college car parking zone.

Whereas Border Patrol brokers have been on the staff that breached the classroom where the gunman was holed up, Albarado wasn't in that group.

"I didn't have my gear, and so it wouldn't have been a smart decision for me to get into the constructing," he mentioned. "I didn't have my vest. A shotgun's not a good enough defense."

During a press convention final week, the pinnacle of the Texas Department of Public Security stated the varsity district's police chief did not initially ship officers into the classroom the place the gunman was positioned because he thought it was now not an active-shooter scenario. The U.S. Justice Department is conducting a evaluation of the police response.

For his half, Albarado stated he wasn't ready to assess the response.

"I do know my fellow officers," he said, "and … to me, coronary heart of hearts, I believe they had been doing all the pieces in their power they might do."

Alex Sundby is a senior editor for CBSNews.com