4 Heroic Dads Snap Into Action to Take Down Active School Shooter

Four dads took on an active shooter in Pasadena, Texas, on Saturday while their children were participating in a band event.

Abram Trevino, Adam Curow, Efrain “Polo” Castillo, and Joe Sanchez, who volunteer with their children’s school band program and who each have military or police experience, jumped into action when they found out that an active shooter was present at the band competition at Pasadena Memorial High School, according to KHOU.

They were moving band equipment when they suddenly heard a commotion from others at the event.

“People were coming out screaming, saying, ‘active shooter, active shooter,’ so me and Polo were with the same prop, dropped everything and ran through the lobby door,” Sanchez said.

There was already another man apprehending the suspect, but the four dads rushed to join as others were fleeing.

“I grabbed his arms while Adam took the gun out, and once the gun was removed from his hand, we had no handcuffs, so I took off my belt, made handcuffs, got his right arm secured, got his left arm secured,” Sanchez said.

“I grabbed his wrist and was tackling to get the handgun free. I finally got it free,” Curow added.

“Then, I went ahead and cleared the pistol and kept it in my hand. I put the pistol behind my back. That way it was secured, and no one has to grab it or utilize it.”

The suspect in the shooting was Dennis Erwin Brandl Jr., an 83-year-old who told police he thought that he was being chased and that someone was trying to kill him and his wife.

One man was injured during the encounter, but no one else was harmed.

It’s no wonder why these dads felt capable leaping into action.

Trevino is a 13-year Air Force veteran, Curow is a 14-year Army veteran, Castillo is a four-year Marine Corps veteran, and Sanchez is a longtime Houston police officer.

“We kind of knew what we were doing, and we did it,” Currow said.

“I think anybody with our collective backgrounds would do that. Kind of nature, it’s kind of a secondhand trait that we have,” Trevino said.

The four men – Abram Trevino, Adam Curow, Efrain ‘Polo’ Castillo Joe Sanchez – quickly jumped into action to subdue the suspect at a band competition Saturday.
https://t.co/NuF7w2003U

— Ian Hill (@ianhillmedia) February 3, 2025

Needless to say, the community was deeply grateful for their decisive leadership.

“It was incredible but also not unexpected, because, I say this all the time to everybody, but the Pearland community is built different, and all these band parents are just different, and they’re incredible,” Pearland High School Director of Percussion Clay Jasper said, according to KHOU.

“They’re incredible role models for their children, and myself,” he continued.

“I’m a father of two young daughters, and I look to these guys now as role models for myself, so it was not unexpected to see them jump in like that and just do what needs to be done, because that’s what they do in this community, and for the band program, and for the school as a whole,” Jasper noted.

These four dads indeed encapsulated the essence of fatherhood.

Rather than running with the rest of the crowd, they took tremendous risk upon themselves to ensure that their children, not to mention fellow community members and complete strangers, would be protected.

In a culture with so many absent fathers, and where even the fathers who stick around are scorned by our feminist culture, this story is a reminder that having strong men who love their families and lay down their lives enables the flourishing of everyone else around them.

Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.