A teacher at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, played dead for 77 minutes after being shot by the 18-year-old gunman during the mass shooting May 24.
Arnulfo Reyes had 11 students in his classroom, room 111, and had put on a movie for them to watch when suspected gunman Salvador Ramos entered and opened fire, ABC News reported Monday. Reyes stated that he heard gunshots moments before the shooter made himself visible.
“The kids started asking out loud, ‘Mr. Reyes, what is going on?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know what’s going on, but let’s go ahead and get under the table, get under the table and act like you’re asleep,'” Reyes told ABC News.
Reyes was then shot twice as the gunman made his way through the room, leaving him unable to move. One of the bullets struck him in the arm and lung, and the other struck him in the back, according to ABC News. As Ramos made his way through adjoining classrooms 111 and 112, Reyes said he laid still and pretended to be dead for 77 minutes, the outlet reported.
During the ordeal, Reyes said he could hear a child in the adjacent room calling out to the police and pleading for assistance. “One of the students from the next door classroom was saying, ‘Officer, we’re in here, we’re in here,’ but they had already left,” Reyes said.(RELATED: REPORT: Texas School Shooting Creates Surge In Sales Of Bulletproof Backpacks)
“He got up from behind my desk, and he walked over there and he shot over there again,” Reyes continued, describing to ABC News his awareness of the gunman’s movements back into room 112 as he continued murdering the students and teachers inside.
Reyes said he heard officers telling gunman to come out and talk before Ramos was ultimately shot and killed by Border Patrol agents, putting an end to the shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead, according to ABC News.