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

Jacob Albarado was in his barber's chair when each men acquired textual content messages about the taking pictures unfolding at Robb Elementary College in Uvalde, Texas, last week. "There's an active shooter. Assist. Love you," Albarado's wife Trisha stated in three messages at 11:41 a.m.

She's a fourth grade trainer at the faculty, and their daughter is a scholar there.

"I asked my barber if he had a gun," Albarado, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent, told CBS News on Wednesday. He had attended an awards ceremony at the college earlier that morning and was off duty, with his weapon at dwelling.

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

"Children are popping out the home windows," he said.

With folks fleeing to a funeral home throughout the street, Albarado mentioned he wished to get inside the varsity as fast as he might.

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

His wife let him know she made it to the funeral residence, but she advised him their daughter was locked in a college restroom.

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

He finally realized his daughter was in a restroom positioned inside her classroom. Albarado met up with two officers near the classroom.

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

The officers started opening classroom doors, and Albarado said he guided folks to safety.

"First classroom, second classroom, third classroom, saw my daughter," Albarado mentioned. "Reduction. Huge aid."

He hugged and kissed her, and soon she was heading to the college parking lot.

While Border Patrol agents were on the crew that breached the classroom where the gunman was holed up, Albarado wasn't in that group.

"I did not have my gear, and so it wouldn't have been a good move for me to get into the building," he said. "I did not have my vest. A shotgun's not a adequate defense."

During a press conference final week, the top of the Texas Department of Public Security said the school district's police chief did not initially ship officers into the classroom the place the gunman was positioned as a result of he thought it was no longer an active-shooter situation. The U.S. Justice Department is conducting a review of the police response.

For his part, Albarado mentioned he wasn't ready to assess the response.

"I know my fellow officers," he stated, "and … to me, coronary heart of hearts, I consider they had been doing everything of their energy they might do."

Alex Sundby is a senior editor for CBSNews.com