Nerves were rattled inside and outside Lackland Air Force Base as law enforcement looked for an active shooter. Those trying to enter Lackland sat in a quarter-mile line of cars stopped at the entrance. Jacob Trevino waited almost three hours before a lockdown was lifted and he could get to work.
"It’s weird how it happens here on a base. It’s kind of crazy," Trevino said. "They’re here to protect us, and they’re shooting at each other. And then all these houses around here, residences. And then we have a school across the street from the base. Doesn’t make any sense. Why would they do that?"
Valery Soto also waited in her car. She’s a food supervisor at Lackland. She says she woke up this morning to see the building in which she works on the news. She was worried.
"Mainly because the safety-ness of everyone. Also our airmen. We’re here to make sure they’re taken care of," she said.
Still, Soto says she thinks the base is a pretty secure place.
"They do the best they can. They’re always on top of everything," she said.
With two dead, not everyone in the immediate area around Lackland was feeling that secure. Linda Olivarez lives in a home that’s a two minute drive from Lackland. She says she had a knot in her throat when she heard what had happened so close to her house.
I picked up my son from Rayburn Middle School and I’m about to pick up my daughter from Valley High. I’d rather have them with me.
Olivarez says she now has one thing on her mind.
"Moving. We have some acres in Devine, so I think it’s better off. This was too close to home," she said.
In a briefing with reporters, Brigadier General Robert LaBrutta said the law enforcements' response was rapid and thorough, though he said the investigation will include an examination of whether the two Glock handguns found on the scene were authorized to be carried on based, or whether they somehow slipped through security.
