Uvalde Survivor Says Classmate Was Shot After Police Ordered Her To 'Yell' While Hiding From Shooter
Her shout caught the shooter's attention.
Twitter / Facebook A fourth-grade boy who survived the devastating mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, recalled the moment that the shooter killed one of his classmates in front of him.
The boy, who was not named, spoke to local news outlet KENS5, saying that the shooter, who was identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, came into the classroom and told the children "It's time to die."
"He shot the next person’s door. We have a door in the middle. He opened it. He came in and he crouched a little bit and he said, he said, 'It's time to die,'" the boy said.
Ramos, who stormed into the elementary school armed with an assault rifle and tactical vest, barricaded himself in adjoining children's classrooms and opened fire, killing 19 children and 2 teachers.
"When I heard the shooting through the door, I told my friend to hide under something so he won't find us," he said.
“I was hiding hard. And I was telling my friend to not talk because he is going to hear us.”
The boy, along with four of his other classmates, hid under a table that had a tablecloth over it, which may have shielded them from the shooter's view and saved their lives.
He detailed the moment that police entered the school and one of his classmates, unfortunately, became a target.
The Uvalde shooting survivor says his classmate was killed after responding to police.
"When the cops came, the cop said: 'Yell if you need help!' And one of the [people] in my class said 'help.' The guy overheard and he came in and shot her. The cop barged into that classroom. The guy shot at the cop. And the cops started shooting.”
It wasn't made clear if the little girl that was shot was one of the 19 children killed or one of the 17 injured.
Two teachers, Irma Garcia and Eva Mireles were gunned down after jumping in front of the shooter to shield some of the students.
“They were nice teachers," the fourth-grader said. "They went in front of my classmates to help. To save them.”
The boy said once the shooting stopped, he was able to come out from under the table.
“I just opened the curtain. And I just put my hand out,” he said. "I got out with my friend. I knew it was [the] police. I saw the armor and the shield.”
The boy was eventually reunited with his family, which he said made him "feel better" after being able to hug his family.
After speaking with a counselor, the boy said he was glad to find out that his friend had survived.
Students at Robb Elementary School had been trapped in the classroom with the gunman for about an hour before authorities were able to gain access, a fact that angered many witnesses at the scene who said police officers hung around outside the school instead of entering.
Many of the onlookers were parents, whose children were inside the school, and even raised the question of storming in themselves if the police wouldn't do it.
"Let's just rush in because the cops aren't doing anything like they are supposed to," Javier Cazares, whose fourth-grade daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, was killed in the attack, said.
"More could have been done," adding that "they were unprepared."
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Follow her on Instagram.