Texas Army veteran Ed Chelby is standing guard at the elementary school his daughter attends, also where his wife works as a nurse after the recent Robb Elementary School massacre in Uvalde.
According to reports, Chelby began standing outside Saegert Elementary in Killeen after writing an email to the school’s superintendent asking permission to do so at its main entrance. He received authorization while in the middle of a background check and after filling out paperwork to become a school volunteer.
“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,” he said.
Not only is Chelby a U.S. Army veteran, but he also has a background in security.
“I can’t let this go,” he said about the Robb Elementary School tragedy. “This is just a testament to the sleeplessness caused by the grief I experienced.”
On May 24, 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos reportedly opened fire on the school, killing at least 19 children as he went on a shooting spree from classroom to classroom. The massacre is considered one of the deadliest school shootings in almost a decade.
With a tactical vest on and rifle in hand, Ramos was eventually shot to death by a Border Patrol officer after police located him in a room at the institution.
“I’ve had a lot of emotional people come up to me,” Chelby said, “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.'”
Samantha Longfeather-Locke, a parent of the students at Saegert, expressed her gratitude for the Texas man’s dedication.
“Him standing in front of the school, that’s reassuring – feeling that we get to go home and see our families this summer,” she said. “The world needed to know what he was doing because I feel that’s sparking some sort of change to start.”
Chelby explained that, naturally, parents just want to be reassured that their kids are safe when they go to school.
“We all struggle with that. You don’t know if you should send your kid to school,” he said. “You want them to get their education and their experience of the last days of school, but you want to protect them with everything you got.”
