本周，一名士兵因其在本月早些时候德克萨斯州埃尔帕索枪击事件中的英勇行为获得了陆军表彰奖章。
周三，在布利斯堡举行的颁奖仪式上，第一装甲师维持旅的士兵格伦登·奥克利获得了这一荣誉，此前他曾在8月3日埃尔帕索致命枪击事件发生时帮助护送儿童到安全的地方。
本月早些时候，一名持枪歹徒在埃尔帕索的西洛维斯塔购物中心附近的沃尔玛开火，造成22人死亡，数十人受伤，这名持枪歹徒的身份是21岁的帕特里克克鲁修斯。几小时后，另一名枪手在俄亥俄州代顿打死了9人。
据《华尔街日报》报道，枪击开始时，奥克利正在距离沃尔玛约800英尺的西洛维斯塔购物中心购物陆军时报。随着当局努力控制局势，现场的第一反应人员迅速开始从沃尔玛和商场疏散市民。
奥克利最近在MSNBC露面时透露，当时他正在购物中心的一个储物柜里购物，一个孩子走进商店，提醒购物者附近有一名活跃的枪手。拥有武器许可证的奥克兰立即拔出枪，投入行动。
“我看到一大群孩子没有父母在身边跑来跑去...我试着尽可能多的把他们带走，”他解释说，并补充说他在现场给警察买了惊慌失措的孩子。
奥克利说:“你可以听到周围所有的混乱，那时我做了我被训练要做的事情。”说在另一次采访中。“我很快做出了反应，我心想，‘如果我的孩子在那里，我会希望别人怎么反应？’我只是采取行动，试着让尽可能多的孩子。"
“我只是想让他们尽可能地靠近。他们中的几个人从我手里跳了出来，但那些我能留下来的人，我确保他们能到达他们需要的地方，”他补充道。"他们只是害怕，所以我只是尽了我所能。"
当局正在调查一份据称由克鲁修斯撰写的宣言，其中包含反移民言论和对克赖斯特彻奇枪手的同情，该枪手今年早些时候参与了新西兰清真寺的致命枪击事件。
民主党人和共和党人最近几周就唐纳德·特朗普总统煽动性的种族言论是否助长埃尔帕索枪击案中的仇恨和暴力发生了冲突。
总统对这两起枪击事件的回应是宣称“仇恨在我们国家没有立足之地”，然后承诺他的政府会“处理好这件事”，而没有详细说明任何解决枪支暴力的计划。
SOLDIER AWARDED ARMY COMMENDATION MEDAL FOR ACT OF HEROISM DURING EL PASO SHOOTING
A soldier received the Army Commendation Medal this week for his act of heroism during the El Paso, Texas shooting earlier this month.
Pfc. Glendon Oakley, a soldier with the 1st Armored Division Sustainment Brigade, was presented the honor during an awards ceremony at Fort Bliss on Wednesday after he helped to escort children to safety as the deadly El Paso shooting unfolded on August 3.
A gunman, identified as 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, opened fire at a Walmart near a Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso earlier this month, killing 22 and injuring dozens more. Hours later, another shooter killed nine in Dayton, Ohio.
Oakley was shopping at Cielo Vista Mall approximately 800 feet away from Walmart when the shooting began, according to the Army Times. First responders on the scene quickly began evacuating citizens from both the Walmart and mall locations as authorities worked to contain the situation.
In his recent appearance on MSNBC, Oakley revealed that was shopping at a Foot Locker in the mall when a child came into the store and alerted shoppers of the active gunman nearby. Oakland, who possessed a weapons permit, immediately pulled out his gun and jumped into action.
"I saw a whole bunch of kids running around without their parents ... I tried to pick up as many as I could and bring them with me," he explained, adding that he bought panicked children to police officers at the scene.
"You could hear all of the chaos going around, and that's when I did what I was trained to do," Oakley said in another interview. "I quickly reacted and I thought to myself, 'If my child were there, how I would want someone else to react?' I just took action and tried to get as many kids as possible."
"I just thought about keeping them as close as I could. A couple of them were jumping out of my hands, but the ones I could keep with me, I made sure that they made it to where they needed to be," he added. "They were just scared, so I just did what I could do."