KMOX Morning Drive anchor Debbie Monterrey was live on air when her daughter started texting her about an intruder at her school. She peaked at her phone while interviewing a guest on the radio show and saw her 17-year-old daughter, Caeli, texting her in all caps.
"My kids text me all the time when I'm on the air," Monterrey told Today Parents.
"I looked down quickly and it was in all caps, which is unusual for my daughter. She wrote: 'OMG THERE'S AN INTRUDER IN THE BUILDING.'"
The texts continued to roll in from her daughter: "OMG." Then another: "It's not a drill."
On Tuesday October 24, the 19-year-old presumed gunman entered the Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis with a rifle in an "aggressive manner," according to police chief Mike Sack.
The gunman was identified as a former student of the school. He reportedly killed one teacher and a 15-year-old student before exchanging gunfire with law enforcement officers.
The suspected shooter was taken into custody and later pronounced dead.
Monterrey's daughter is a senior at the Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience, which shares a building with the school where the shooter carried out his attack.
According to Today, the news anchor saw arial footage of a building on a TV screen in the studio and realized it was her daughter's school.
A KMOX newsroom reporter then ran into the studio where Monterrey was on air and whispered, "We have breaking news."
"I was just in shock mode, trying to keep everything together," Monterrey said. "The reporter said, 'There's been a school shooting.' I said, 'I know, it's my daughter's school. Caeli is texting me right now.'"
As the news continued to break in the studio, Monterrey was getting real-time updates from the scene, from her daughter via text.
"There's helicopters," her daughter sent. Then more when authorities arrived on the scene.
"I hear so much police outside the door," one update said. Then: "People are yelling police."
As Monterrey received the next texts: "We all ran out of the building," and "Police told us to have our hands up," she saw it happening on the TV screen.
Lines of students were shown running to safety, according to Today.
Monterrey continued to report on shooting, and finally 30 minutes after she received that first text from her daughter, she knew she was out of the school and safe. The show cut to commercial then, for a short amount of time, and she broke into tears.
Her co-anchor, Carol Daniel, embraced her as she processed what had just happened.
"I only had 30 seconds to feel my feelings because we had a job to do," she explained to Today Parents. "We went back on air and the reporter is saying what she's hearing from police and I'm relaying what my daughter is telling me. I figured, if I was going to hold it together I had to hang onto the facts."
When the ordeal finally came to a close, Monterrey felt she had to share her experience with others.
Taking to Twitter, the reporter wrote: "This morning I was on the air @kmoxnews when my daughter began texting me that her school was on lockdown. Then I have to begin talking ON THE AIR about the latest school shooting in America. My daughter's school."
"I had to maintain my composure and be professional while the mom in me wanted to run out of the room," she recalled in a heartbreaking thread.
The mom then closed saying, "we shouldn't have to live this way," and thanked police for their swift response.
