(Seguin) — The Seguin ISD is also formally recognizing the bus driver from that recent shooting incident.
Making sure that each of “his kids” was not hurt was the only thing on Eric Alexander’s mind, as he leaped into action taking a gun out of the hands of one of his students riding on Bus #99.
“When I heard the shot, I was able to stop the bus and as soon as I stopped the bus and recognized the situation, the first thing on my mind was check every child, make sure they were alright and once I did that, I was able to move all of the children to the back. I identified the firearm, unloaded it and covered it up so the children wouldn’t see it when they were exiting the bus and I kept them in the back of the bus until the police arrived and the principal and then we got them off the bus safely,” said Alexander.
On Tuesday, Aug. 22, Alexander found himself behind the wheel of the bus in which a student discharged a loaded gun – striking the backside of one of the seats. Luckily, nobody was hurt during the incident.
“With the children all around there — once I (saw) where the bullet went and everything, I felt better about the situation because none of the children were harmed and I was able to get them to the back and check them and make sure they were all okay. That was my biggest thing especially just walking up there and seeing it, I mean your heart just drops. You never think that it’s going to happen to you on your bus or anywhere,” said Alexander.
Successfully gaining control of the situation outside Jefferson Avenue Elementary School is what led to the recognition of Alexander during Tuesday night’s meeting of the Seguin ISD Board of Trustees. Alexander was surprised with the Superintendent’s Apple Award – a prestigious honor awarded to an individual in the district each month.
“I think I did what anybody would have done. It just happened to be me on the bus. I appreciate it being recognized but I think any of our bus drivers would have done the same thing if they were on the bus,” said Alexander.
As part of the recognition, Seguin ISD Superintendent Matthew Gutierrez stated that the Seguin ISD was fortunate that the 10-year employee was driving the bus that day. He says having started as a bus driver in 2013, Alexander has filled various roles within the transportation department. However, because of a bus driver shortage, he was thankful that Alexander was behind the wheel that day.
While the community continues to wrap its mind around what happened, Alexander says it’s important that everyone come together and focus on gun safety and other ways that we can prevent situations like this.
“You know, they need to educate their children. That’s the biggest thing. Growing up, I was growing up hunting. I was educated about firearms to respect them and everything else. They are not toys and I think nowadays, that is lost between parents and children, and I think education is the biggest part. Teach your children they are not toys. It’s not like a video game where you die and you come back. It’s real life and they need to understand that. So, education would be my biggest thing – to teach them,” said Alexander.
The incident was occurred last Tuesday at 7: 25 a.m. just as the school bus rolled into the local campus for unloading.