Glendon Oakley Jr Hailed as Hero after Saving Children during El Paso Shooting

An off-duty soldier is now being hailed a hero at the El Paso Shooting after saving children and everyone else in sight.

Army Pfc. Glendon Oakley was out to shop for a jersey last Saturday, when a child ran into the store and said there was a shooter nearby, particularly at Walmart.

At first, Oakley shares that no one paid attention to the boy because they didn't understand what the child was trying to say. However, when he walked into another store, that's when he realized that something was up.

"I just heard two gunshots and a whole bunch of people started running around and screaming," he starts.

His First Instinct

In the next couple of minutes, Oakley went toward the shooter to try and save more people. However, he realized that there were so many children running around without their parents.

That's when he decided not to come after the shooter, but to try and save as many kids as possible.

"But I see a whole bunch of kids running around without their parents. Only thing I think of is pick up as many kids I can as possible," shares Oakley.

Doing All That He Could

He and another man tried to circle the kids around, but in the end, he could only carry three. On the situation, he shared:

"I was just focused on the kids, I wasn't really worried about myself. So just put my head down and just ran as fast as I could. They were anxious, when they were in my arms, they were trying to jump out of my arms but trying to keep them as tight as possible. They are kids, so they don't understand what is going on."

The Right Thing to Do

Oakley was not concerned about his safety, but rather trying to get the kids to safety. He also shared that he does not want the spotlight on him, as he just did what he was supposed to do.

"I was just thinking about if I had a child and I wasn't around, how I would want another man to react if they saw my child running around."

On Being a "Hero"

In the end, the soldier teared up during the interview and said he still thinks about the kids he could not save and the families that lost loved ones.

"I understand it was heroic, and I'm looked at as a hero for it, but that wasn't the reason for me ... I'm just focused on the kids I could not get and the families that were lost. It hurts me, like, they were part of me. I don't even know the people that died or the kids that I took with me ... I want to reach out to the families that were lost and the families that lost their children because the focus should not be on me," he said.

The Deadly Incident

Year after year, shooting in El Paso, Texas, took the lives of 20 innocent people, while more than a dozen were injured.

The deadly attack was brought about by 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, whom investigators say has white nationalist and racist views.

Online, some of his documents targets hate against immigrants and Hispanics, blaming them and first-generation Americans for taking away jobs and blending different cultures into the US.