Through 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 each males received text messages about the shooting unfolding at Robb Elementary Faculty in Uvalde, Texas, final week. "There's an lively shooter. Help. Love you," Albarado's wife Trisha mentioned in three messages at 11:41 a.m.

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

"I requested my barber if he had a gun," Albarado, a U.S. Customs and Border Safety agent, informed CBS News on Wednesday. He had attended an awards ceremony at the school 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 started helping.

"Youngsters are coming out the home windows," he mentioned.

With folks fleeing to a funeral house throughout the street, Albarado said he wanted to get inside the college as quick 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 residence, but she instructed him their daughter was locked in a school restroom.

"I did not know what restroom," Albarado said.

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

"We have to get the kids out of right here," Albarado said he advised the officers. "… The shooter's over there. We have to get the kids out. This is our time."

The officers started opening classroom doors, and Albarado mentioned he guided folks to security.

"First classroom, second classroom, third classroom, noticed my daughter," Albarado mentioned. "Reduction. Massive reduction."

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

While Border Patrol agents had been on the team that breached the classroom the place 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 smart decision for me to get into the constructing," he said. "I did not have my vest. A shotgun's not a ok defense."

During a press convention last week, the head of the Texas Department of Public Security said the varsity district's police chief didn't initially send officers into the classroom the place the gunman was located because he thought it was no longer an active-shooter scenario. The U.S. Justice Division is conducting a review of the police response.

For his half, Albarado said he wasn't in a position to evaluate the response.

"I do know my fellow officers," he mentioned, "and … to me, heart of hearts, I consider they have been doing the whole lot in their power they may do."

Alex Sundby is a senior editor for CBSNews.com