EL PASO, Texas — Gilbert Serna had worked at the El Paso Walmart for nearly half his life before the day it would change forever.



The 37-year-old father of two was in the middle of his shift on Saturday when a gunman opened fire in the store, killing 22 people.

"I heard on my two-way radio, 'Code brown, run quick' in a panicked voice," Serna told BuzzFeed News of the moment the shooting began.

In the frenzy of the moment, he didn't remember what that meant. He checked the back of his badge, which lists the codes.

"I was like, 'Oh yeah, that’s a shooting,' and then heard the pop, pop, pop," he said.



That's when he jumped into action — and may have saved more than 150 people thanks to his quick thinking.

Serna led what he believed to be about 100 customers and employees through a fire exit and told them to get inside four shipping containers. He then closed the doors, hiding them safely inside.

"They were scared. I was scared. We were all scared," he said.

