Former HPD officer recalls 1992 school shooting in Houston
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- There is a lot of outrage over the news that the school resource deputy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School waited outside of the school as the shooting massacre unfolded.
In 1992, then-HPD officer Lowelll Neinast was teaching a DARE class at Piney Point Elementary School when an angry parent walked in and started shooting. He was armed, but decided not to fire out of fear of hitting a child.
Neinast helped push kids and teachers to safety. He was shot three times.
"I still have two bullets inside of me today. That will be with me the rest of my life," he said.
RELATED: Fla. school resource deputy 'never went in' to confront shooter
In the end, the gunman was arrested and no children were hurt.
"If that means getting in the line of fire to save a life, that's what we have to do," Neinast said.
He said as a member of law enforcement, you take an oath to protect others.
"If you're asking my opinion, I would have gone in and eliminated the threat and figured out what was going on," he said.
He stressed that the conversation surrounding classroom violence should center on prevention.
Neinast added that it's impossible to know what was going on inside the resource deputy's mind at Stoneman Douglas.
"Could he have saved lives? We'll never know. We'll never know."
