Carlos Rojo saved an indeterminate number of persons from being shot, Groves, Texas, December 18, 1963. A 15-year- old student entered a school building with a shotgun, went to the classroom of a teacher who had reprimanded him, and fired one of nine shells he had with him without hitting anybody. He ran from the building and entered a school bus. Rojo, 36, insurance underwriter, a substitute instructor, learned what had happened. He ran outside, saw the youth in the bus reloading the gun, and then led a number of students around the corner of the building to a side entrance. The youth fired at the principal and another teacher but missed them. Rojo and the students went to the school office. The others went into a room of the office, but Rojo stood in the reception area, talking with another teacher. Hearing a noise in the hall, Rojo stepped to the doorway. The youth approached to within four feet of him with the shotgun. Thinking that others in the office were in danger, Rojo lunged forward, grasped the gun’s muzzle with his left hand, and stepped to a position at a right angle to the youth. As Rojo attempted to wrest the weapon from the youth, the gun was discharged. The shot grazed Rojo’s abdomen and left hand, but most of the pellets struck his right arm. The youth ran from the building and was apprehended by an armed deputy. Rojo was removed to a hospital for emergency surgery and later a nerve operation on his shattered arm. His wounds healed, but he has only restricted use of his right arm and hand.
46917 – 4778
46917-4778