‘I would take a bullet for you guys’: Video captures El Paso High teacher consoling students after reports of gunmen
EL PASO, Texas -- It was a frightening situation for students and parents at El Paso High School after reports of gunmen on campus, but it was also a frightening situation for teachers.
For Russell Lang, a teacher at El Paso High School, the lockdown training held twice a year reassured him that local law enforcement and administration were doing all they could to keep students and faculty safe.
"I believe that most teachers have a desire to protect and to nurture," Lang said. "We've have situations where we had to go on lockout before and we've done lockdown drills before so I just did my job which was to ensure the safety of my 30 kids was ensured," Lang said.
A video posted on social media, submitted by one of Lang's students, captures him consoling students after the lockdown was lifted.
In the video Land tells his students he would take a bullet for them while giving another student a hug.
"When we went to lockout mode which is just, you can't leave the building, that's when we started talking about what was happening and that's when kids started to emote more," Lang said. "Certain kids were saying 'hey, thank you for standing by the door,' and I didn't know that was something special but apparently it was to them and I'm glad that I was able to make them feel safer."
El Paso police detained three suspects with a BB gun after searching room by room in a locked down El Paso High School on Thursday morning following reports of gunmen at the school.
"(The clearing out) went very smoothly," Lang said. "We do two (lockdown drills) a year and in those drills (school officers) come room to room to make sure every teacher is doing what they're supposed to be doing."
Those two lockdown drills are recommended by the state of Texas, one for each semester.
Lang, who was also a student at El Paso High School, told ABC-7 the added responsibility of keeping kids safe has been on his mind for quite some time.
"I got into teaching because I had teachers who helped me when I was young...the help part was there, and the protect part was also there," Lang said. Definitely in the last four of five years it's become very apparent that we as educators who get into this job because we want to help and protect have to add this to our resume." Lang said.