(The Lion) — Four Texas fathers are being celebrated for taking heroic action to stop an active shooter while attending a high school band competition.
The incident took place at Pasadena Memorial High School, near Houston, when 83-year-old Dennis Erwin Brandl Jr. entered the building and fired at least one shot at a victim while attendees were distracted by the drumline competition. According to witnesses, it took the group of dads approximately one minute total to jump into action and disarm Brandl.
“It was nothing that we expected in our wildest dreams. When I saw a bunch of people running out of the lobby yelling ‘active shooter,’ I stopped what I was doing and ran toward the lobby,” recalled Sergeant Joe Sanchez, one of the fathers and an officer with the Houston Police Department (HPD).
Sanchez described witnessing Brandl wielding a gun and being pinned to the ground by a fellow band dad; as Sanchez held the suspect’s wrist down, a third father wrestled the gun from his hand.
“I was able to get my belt – because there were no handcuffs available at the time – took off my belt, wrapped it around his right arm to get him secured. I don’t know what he was going through but he kept saying, ‘They’re after me, they’re trying to shoot me,’” Sanchez explained. “We knew something was wrong, because we’re trying to stop the threat no matter what – and so I didn’t even think twice about it. I just ran toward it just to help in any way that I could.”
Community members have been quick to celebrate the fathers who intervened to subdue the shooter, saving an unknown number of lives in the process.
“When danger struck, HPD Sergeant Joe Sanchez didn’t hesitate,” read a post from HPD on social media. “While attending a band competition at a Pasadena school, Sgt. Sanchez was among those who quickly stepped up to protect lives. This month, he marks 33 years with HPD. We’re grateful for his service.”
The other three dads have been identified as Abram Trevino, Adam Curow, and Efrain Castillo – veterans of the Air Force, Army, and Marines, respectively.
“As soon as everyone was screaming and yelling (and we heard) gunshots fired, Joe and myself looked at each other and ran straight to the door. By the time we got inside, Polo and Abram were right behind us as a band dad team,” Curow shared with a local news station.
Based on police reports, Brandl appears to have been experiencing a mental health crisis, telling police he was being chased by someone who intended to kill him and his wife. A technical consultant for the high school band was the only person injured before Brandl was apprehended, and the victim is expected to make a full recovery.
