KILLEEN, Texas (KXXV) — For Johnathan Schutz, disaster is not unfamiliar. A victim of Sunday’s Liberty Apartment fires in Killeen, the New Orleans native experienced tragedy as a child, surviving Hurricane Katrina.
“It happened when I was around 11 years old, so I was still a kid, really. And the one thing I remember is the chaos. The emergency response time was famously bad. So with this, I’m hoping we don’t forget that these people existed,” Schutz recalled.
Schutz was asleep when the fire started, but he quickly realized something was drastically wrong.
“Before I knew it, there was smoke in my building, there was someone banging on my window, trying to get me out of there. You know, I had smoke I was breathing in. By the time I got out to the road, I’d only been able to grab my phone,” he shared.
A two-year Killeen resident, Schutz had one month left on his lease as he planned to relocate to El Paso. He was set to open an online sports and trading card marketplace from his home. Now, everything he owned is gone.
“All my business inventory was in there, all the items I’d procured. I’ve had some of those since I was 11 years old. Some of those survived Hurricane Katrina. The newspaper, when the Saints won the Super Bowl… all that type of stuff you keep, that reminds you of your childhood—all that’s gone,” Schutz lamented.
Spending the night at his mom’s house in Nolanville, Schutz emphasized the importance of community support for him and other victims.
“A lot of us haven’t even begun to process our physical loss, we’re still in our emotional state. It’s easy to sit down and write someone a check. It’s not easy to sit down with someone and have a tough conversation, and let them know you care,” he said.
Schutz tells 25 News, out of everything he lost, he’s most upset and emotional about being unable to save his pet tortoise.
While he knows all his neighbors are suffering together, he was grateful to hear that all affected residents were now accounted for.
