Ep. 143: TEXAS - The Uvalde School Shooting Pt. 2: The Massacre (5/24/22)

And on May 24, 2022, that plan was set in motion, starting with the attack against his grandmother. After shooting her in the face, the shooter would then steal her car and make his way over to Robb Elementary, and that's where we left off in Part 1.. That morning, while hundreds of students sat in their classrooms, no one had any idea that evil was lurking nearby with an AR-15.. He would rain terror on the teachers and students inside Room 111 and 112, and he would remain in those classrooms amongst his murder victims for 77 minutes, while nearly 400 police officers waited outside. During that time, the gunmen would play in the victim's blood.

He would also watch TV and play music, while some of the survivors were bleeding out from their gunshot wounds. At the end of that day, 19 students and two teachers would lose their lives in one of the worst school shootings our nation has ever seen. So this is the Uvalde School Shooting, Part 2.. I'm Courtney Brown.

. Cody and Gilbert have less than a second to react. The driver of the truck looks them dead in the eyes, and with no emotion, aims his rifle directly at them. From here, the men start to run, as gunshots blast in their direction. Cody was running so frantically, he even trips and falls right there in the street.

The shooter fires at least 8 shots in their direction, but every single one of them misses. Luckily, they would make it back to the funeral home unscathed. But as they watched from a distance, they see the young man walk towards Robb Elementary, and in this day and age, they know exactly what's about to happen. This man is about to shoot up an elementary school. So Gilbert immediately calls 911..

He would later say,

Irma Garcia and Ms. Ava Morelis' class. They were the teachers of Room 112.. Sadly, within just a few hours, both teachers would lose their lives, as well as most of the students whose names they're about to call out. Miranda Mathis and AJ Martinez.

Most I Excel Skills Mastered in Math goes out to Maya Zamora.

Let's show off our nice awards right there. Face Ms. Guzman back here in the back. Quick, one, two, three.

However, as they snapped their pictures and waved to their babies on stage, none of them had any idea that this would be the very last time they would ever see their children alive.

In a later interview, Amy admitted that the only thing she could think of at that moment was that the driver had a medical emergency while behind the wheel. So she quickly runs out of the school to see what's going on. Amy also watches the funeral home employees run to help the driver. And then, seconds later, she sees them running away.

From here, dispatch alerts the authorities about the crash and the fact that the driver has a gun.

Unfortunately, as Amy makes her way back inside Robb Elementary, the door behind her doesn't lock. And moments later, the gunman would enter the school through this unlocked door. But it's important to note that Amy wasn't responsible for this unlocked door. The door should have immediately locked once it closed. But it didn't.

So that's the school's fault. It's also important to note that the shooter would have likely made his way inside, even if the door had been locked. According to official reports, the exterior doors on the east and south sides of the building were also unlocked. Such that even if the west door had been locked, the attacker still would have had the ability to enter the building. But his progress likely would have been slowed.

But back outside, the young man hopped the five-foot fence surrounding the elementary school. And now he was officially on campus. But he's taking his time. He's not running. He doesn't appear to be anxious.

He's just calmly walking around with his AR-15. Once he reaches the parking lot of the school, he even hangs out in between two vehicles for a moment. Now, off in the distance is the school's pavilion, where students are outside for P.E. class. And while the shooter's standing in front of Robb Elementary, he aims his gun at the pavilion and fires off three to four shots.

Luckily, they don't hit anyone. But the P.E. coach, Yvette Silva, who's outside with the third grade class, does notice the gunshots. And it's here where she notifies the school's office about an active shooter, saying, Coach Silva to office. Somebody jumped over the fence and he's shooting.

Coach Silva thought that her announcement to the school would initiate a lockdown. However, it was not reported right away. And the gunman would continue making his way towards Robb Elementary.

Nicole quickly tells her students to get under their desks, which is active shooter protocol. And as soon as they do, the window to her classroom shatters. The gunman starts walking down the sidewalk, shooting at all the windows he passes. And inside the classrooms, the children are terrified as glass shatters all around them. Teacher Nicole Ogburn crawls over to her students and she does her best to comfort them.

But she's also fully aware that she's experiencing every teacher's worst nightmare. And all she can do is tell her students to be quiet. Over the next few moments, the only sounds from inside are students whispering. Some are comforting their classmates. Others are praying for God's protection.

We actually thought we were going to an accident scene. I thought it was an accident and they're shooting at each other. Road rage.

Moments later, Sergeant Daniel Coronado also arrived. And it's around this time when they hear the sound of gunfire near campus. They also saw the group of children by the pavilion running away. So initially, they thought the gunman was over there. One officer even saw a man dressed in all black running in the direction of the children.

So from here, the officer lifts his rifle towards the man. And he asked Sergeant Coronado if he had permission to shoot. But according to the committee, Sergeant Coronado hesitated. He didn't want any shots fired while the children are present. Stating, quote, he considered the risk of shooting a child.

And he quickly recalled his training that the officers are responsible for every round that goes down range. End quote. And luckily, they chose not to shoot at the man dressed in all black, because that man was not the shooter. In fact, his name was Abraham Gonzalez. And he was a PE coach at Robb Elementary.

According to official documents, Abraham had been walking to his car after lunch when he heard the announcement of an active shooter on the school's radio. So he immediately ran over to the children to bring them inside for the lockdown. Now, after this confusion, the employees at the funeral home signaled to the police officers that the gunman is right outside of Robb Elementary. So from here, the responding officers make their way over to the school where they meet Uvalde CISD Police Chief, Pete Arredondo. The chief had been at Uvalde High School when he heard the report of shots fired over his radio.

Now, keep in mind, Pete Arredondo was the chief of police for the school district. And according to active shooter protocol, he was supposed to be the man in charge that day. So he immediately makes his way over to Robb Elementary with his radios, which is what is used to communicate with the first responders. But shortly after he exits his vehicle, Pete Arredondo starts fumbling with his radios. And he quickly gets frustrated with them.

According to the committee, the radios, quote, bothered him, so he dropped them by the school's fence, end quote. Now this is strange, because he is the man in charge and his radio is crucial for communication. But he would later say that he dropped his radios because he knew Sergeant Coronado would have his radios with him. Doesn't make a ton of sense, but that was his reasoning.

But because the school had a bad Wi-Fi signal, the alert wouldn't get sent out right away. So instead, she used the school's intercom system to initiate the lockdown, and from there, the teachers scrambled to get their kids to safety and start their lockdown procedures. After this, Principal Mandy Gutierrez called Chief Arredondo on his cell phone, and on that call, he told her, shut it down, Mandy, shut it down.

But in everyone's minds, the doors were secured. Now, during these next few moments, teachers were scrambling trying to get their students to safety. In room 104, Ms. Lynn Deming had been getting her class ready for recess, when she heard gunfire. Many of her students were out in the hallway, so she quickly rushed them back into the classroom, shut the door, turned her lights off, and ushered her students to get under their desks.

And from there, they all sat in silence, fully aware that danger was just outside of their school.

as their teacher turned off the lights. She said, quote, everyone was scared and everything. I told them to be quiet. I heard a lot more of the gunshots. And then I was crying a little bit.

And my best friend Sophie was also crying right next to me,

Although most of the children couldn't stay quiet and were hysterically crying, not knowing what was going on. Jasmine's thoughts immediately went to her 10-year-old son, MC, who was a fourth grader in room 103.. And in that moment, her mother's instincts kicked in, and she even tried to run out of the cafeteria to locate him. But she was quickly stopped by a group of teachers who told her, you have to wait, you have to relax, you can get us all killed. Over the next few moments, more students were ushered into the cafeteria for the lockdown.

Now, because the emergency alert didn't come in time, everyone in Robb Elementary only had about a minute, one single minute, to prepare. And soon enough, the entire school went from complete chaos.

Video shows him pause for a second, and then he decides to turn right, directly towards the fourth grade classrooms. As he walks down the hall, he drops the gun to his side, as he casually fixes his hair. Now, in the surveillance footage, as the shooter approaches the fourth grade classrooms, you see a little boy in the left-hand corner of the camera. He had just finished using the restroom, and was about to walk back to his fourth grade class. But as he went to turn the corner, he suddenly stops in his tracks, because right there, right in front of his class, was a young man with an AR-15.

In the video, you see the boy stare at the gunman for a few seconds, and as soon as he notices the gun, he takes off, running back towards the restrooms. Luckily, the little boy finished using the restroom at the perfect time. If he would have come out seconds earlier, he would have been face-to-face with the shooter, and likely would have been his first victim. But that's not how this story would play out. Now, minutes earlier, inside room 111, fourth grade teacher, Mr.

Arnie Reyes had been playing the movie The Addams Family for his 11 students. But then suddenly, along with the rest of the school, he and his class heard the gunshots. Many of his students jumped up and asked, what was that? Mr. Reyes had heard the sound before, but never in his wildest dreams did he expect what would happen next.

Now, something important to note is that inside his classroom was a door that connected to the classroom next to his, which was room 112.

. And inside that classroom were 18 students and two teachers named Ms. Ava Moreles and Ms. Irma Garcia. Before the shots rang out, room 112 was watching the Lilo and Stitch movie.

Many of the students had even taken their shoes off so that they would be comfortable. But now, they were all huddled up under their desks, hiding from a gunman who was approaching their classroom. And one of the scariest parts about school shootings is that you never know which classrooms the gunman will target. But as he walks down the hall, he suddenly stops in front of room 111 and 112.. On the door of the classrooms are these small little windows.

And as the gunman walks through the hall, he peeks into room 112 and fires several shots through the small window. But the door is still locked. So from here, he turns to room 111..

And, sadly, because that door wasn't properly secured, the students inside.

So all 11 students run to the right-hand corner of the room near the whiteboard, and they all huddle under a desk. From there, Mr. Reyes tells the kids to act like they are sleeping. He would later say, quote, I wanted them to close their eyes. I didn't want them to see anything.

But once the kids are secure, Mr. Reyes sees a dark shadow approach his classroom door. And because the door's lock was broken, the gunman opens it and steps inside room 111 with ease. At that moment, Mr. Reyes is standing there, face-to-face with the shooter, and all he can see is his dark eyes.

His students are still huddled in the corner behind him. And the next thing he knows, the gunman yells out, look what we have here, before raising his rifle in his direction and pulling the trigger. Mr. Reyes quickly drops to the ground, feeling a deep sting in his left forearm. The bullet had torn off pieces of his flesh and bone.

But what would happen next was far more horrific. After shooting the teacher, the gunman then approaches the 11 children who were huddled in the corner. And over the next few moments, the sound of gunfire echoes throughout the school. Within seconds, all 11 students in room 111 are killed instantly. Mr.

Reyes, who was still lying on the ground playing dead, said that he didn't even hear one single cry, scream, or whimper. That's how quickly they were wiped out. Here is the audio from those first few moments. Keep in mind, the audio is edited, so all you can hear is the gunshots.

Sgt. Coronado said that after hearing the gunfire inside of the school, his heart sank. This was the worst case scenario.

Reyes' classroom. And because his front door was unlocked, this allowed the gunman access to both classrooms. Inside room 112, two teachers and 18 students are hiding. And, just like in Mr. Reyes' class, most of the students are in the back left-hand corner of the room.

And in front of the kids, guarding them from the gunman, are their two teachers. Other students are hidden in other spots around the room. Some kids are under the desks. Others are in the front of the room near the backpacks. But all are terrified.

after hearing the gunshots next door. Over the next few seconds, everyone inside of room 112 holds their breaths, trying to stay as quiet as they possibly can. But soon enough, the door handle connecting to room 111 begins to turn. And before they know it, the gunman is standing right in front of them. He then yells out, you're all gonna die.

And according to survivors, the gunman then makes his way towards the teachers and students in the corner of the room. They all back away in fear as he inches closer. He then looks Irma Garcia in the eye and says, good night, before unloading his rifle on everyone in that corner of the room. Here is the audio from the.

video. In less than three minutes, the gunman had fired over 100 shots into the two classrooms. When he was finished shooting, Ms. Irma Garcia immediately fell to the ground dead. And so did the young children she was holding in her arms.

Both teachers tried their best to shield their students from the gunfire, but several of them would immediately succumb to their injuries. However, not everyone in that corner died right away. In the very back of the group, there were four children who had been shot, but were still alive. And their teacher, Ms. Eva Moreles, was also still alive.

But after these gunshots rang out, 10 other students were still hiding around the classroom, doing everything they could to keep quiet, so the gunman wouldn't see them. Now, a man named Charlie Men would do a documentary called 77 Minutes, where he interviewed some of the surviving children of room 112.. And according to their accounts, these first few minutes were absolute chaos. A student named Samuel Salinas said, quote, I was hiding under my desk. I was half outside of the desk and half inside of the desk.

And I saw a bunch of my classmates dead. And my friends, too. End quote. Now, Samuel had been shot in his right leg. The pain was unbearable, but he couldn't scream or cry.

He had to remain as quiet as he possibly could. Another student named Jayden Canizales said, quote, I was hiding under the table, and there was a table curtain, so the shooter couldn't see me. The table curtain was black. End quote. As Jayden was hidden behind the curtain, he heard the shooter come into the room.

He would later say, quote, the shooter was behind me. He crouched down when he was at the table and started shooting everybody. End quote. And because he was hidden under that curtain, Jayden luckily didn't get shot. But that wasn't the case for many of his other classmates.

11-year-old Maya Cerillo had been shot in the upper left shoulder. Another student, AJ Martinez, had been shot in his right leg. He said that after the gunman came into their class, quote, I just saw him keep shooting people. He would stop, and then he would keep going. End.

But it's at this point, at 1136 a.

m.

, just three minutes into the shooting, when the police finally come into the school. Chief Arredondo, Officer Adrian Gonzalez, Officer Page, and Sergeant Coronado enter the building through the south entrance. Then, on the west entrance, several more officers enter the school, including Lieutenant Martin, Sergeant Canales, Lieutenant Javier Martinez, and Officer Luis Landry. Now, in the security footage from inside the school, the officers immediately run in and disperse down the hallway. Some of them are even standing in front of room 111 and 112..

And while they're standing there, they notice it's eerily quiet inside. There's no screaming, no crying. They also notice smoke in the hallway, debris all over the floor, bullet holes through the walls, and bullet casings all over the ground. And it's at this point when Sergeant Canales peers through one of the doors to see if he can get an eye on the gunman. However, when he does, the classroom is pitch black.

Now, the officers are standing in the hallway for about a minute, and then, right before 1137 a.

m.

, the gunman fires off several more shots. Inside room 111,. Mr. Reyes said that he then heard a student in room 112 cry out, Officers, come in! We are in here!

And just for a moment, I want you to.

Meanwhile, the police took off running down the hallway and took cover. Now, during the gunfire, Sergeant Canales and Lieutenant Martinez had been grazed by debris from the bullets blasting through the door. Here is the body cam footage from Officer Eduardo Canales.

Can you break? Somebody can break?

That's when it's the best time to take the gunman down and rescue victims. When you wait around, there's this buildup. The gunman gets comfortable, and as time passes, he's more aware of his surroundings. So, these first few moments are when the Uvalde police officer should have gone in and taken him down. However, after those shots are fired through the door, they retreat back and take cover, and no one would even attempt to go back into the room for another 70 minutes.

Here is footage from Officer Canales' body cam after those shots rang out.

Yeah. He's in the class.

I got shots fired. We're going to be in the building. The west side.

We got to get in there. We got to get in there. We got to get in there.

He may have even seen the teacher move a little bit, because after this, the gunman pours a cup of water on Reyes' back. He likely wanted to see if the water would cause him to move around, but it didn't. Reyes continued to be as still as he possibly could. From there, the shooter hops down from the table, scoops up some of Reyes' blood, and then smears it all over the teacher's face. But Mr.

Reyes keeps doing everything in his power to play dead. However, the gunman isn't finished just yet. Next, he grabs Reyes' cell phone, which had been ringing non-stop since the shooting started, and he places it on Reyes' back. It's assumed that the gunman thought the vibrations of the cell phone would elicit a reaction of sorts, but it didn't. Mr.

Reyes would later say, quote, he was going to make sure I was dead too. I mean, he had nothing to lose. End quote. Then, as he was lying there, Mr. Reyes heard a loud pop, followed by a pain in his lower back.

The shooter had shot him again, and he couldn't even react, despite the immense pain. And at that moment, he thought to himself, quote, I'm not going to make it. I'm going to bleed out. End quote. Now, in the next room over, the survivors of room 112 continue to wait around for police.

Eleven-year-old Chloe Torres said that she watched 10 people die right in front of her eyes, one being her best friend, Anne-Marie. Another survivor, Maya Cerillo, said that as she laid there amongst her classmates, she saw teeth scattered all over the ground. She also saw someone's ear lying right next to her. These little children were quite literally in what looked like a war zone, and all they wanted was to get out of that room. Chloe said that she kept looking at the window of her classroom.

She knew that that would be a way for them to escape, but she didn't even entertain the idea, because she knew the gunman was watching. So instead, she continued to play dead.

I literally didn't hear anything at all, you know, you know, and, you know, you would think there was, you know, kids would be screaming. Here's another officer, Ronald Rodriguez. We couldn't hear the kids. We couldn't hear him shooting anybody or anything like that, so I guess that's why, you know, they were waiting to make entry, because we didn't know what was going on in there. It was too quiet.

Here's Officer Ventura Chapa. Did you think there was kids in that room?

There, I knew there was a possibility, because of school, but I didn't know for sure that there was kids in there. Again, it was really quiet, and, you know, I know, you know, I mean, I went to elementary school, you know, you have your little, like, your science class, where you walk out or eat or at different times of the day, and hopefully, you know, other activities. I know it was also, like, the end of the year, so I was like, maybe they're doing something else, you know, not in their classrooms, but that was kind of a wishful thinking. Next is Sergeant Donald Page. Man, that hallway was so quiet after the shots were done.

You could literally hear yourself breathing. You didn't hear any kids. You didn't hear any teachers. Nothing. And I do remember he even asked Pete, hey, is this building clear?

Is it just maybe one or two classrooms? And he's like, I, he said, I do not know, because, like I said, you didn't hear anybody. Now, the reason there was no screaming or yelling is because, one, most of the people in the rooms were dead, and, two, the gunman was going back and forth between the rooms. So, obviously, the survivors aren't going to be screaming, revealing their position. One of the girls in room 112 had done just that, and the gunman came in and shot her.

In an active shooter training, which the students had practiced in the past, they teach you to be as quiet as you possibly can. So, they follow the rules, rules that the police department clearly weren't aware of, and it's at this point when Sergeant Eduardo Canales announces that the subject is contained and barricaded in the classroom. Okay, guys, he's on inside this building. We have him contained. We believe he's barricaded in one of the offices.

Messed up, but he's still shooting. Now, with this announcement, Sergeant Eduardo Canales used the words contained and barricaded, and that wording is very important. To other officers, that means that the subject is in the room by themselves, and if that were to be the case, then there's no urgency to immediately storm in and take down the shooter. Now, they can be more tactical and strategic so that they're protected, but little did they know that was not the case at all. There were dozens of people in those rooms, most of whom were already dead and some who were dying.

Seven minutes into the.

. Her classroom is located across the hall from room 112, so she heard everything, and according to her 911 call, she says, quote, there's an active shooter at Rob Elementary. I don't have a window, but I can hear gunshots outside of my classroom. There's been a lot, a whole lot, and I got a message from somebody that somebody is shot in another classroom, end. quote.

So from here, Police Chief Pete Arredondo is notified about this 911 call, so he knows that someone has been shot in one of the classrooms.

right now. I'm inside the building with this man. He has an AR-15.. It's a teacher. It's a teacher with him in the classroom.

The dispatcher replies, quote,

He hasn't come out yet. We're surrounded, but I don't have a radio with me. Please let all the units know he's going to be in the room. Okay, the shooter's in one of the rooms, what room number, Pete? Yes, he's going to be in room 9, 10, 11, 12..

He's either in room 111 or 112.

. Now, after hearing from dispatch that someone had been shot in room 111 or 112, Chief Pete Arredondo, for whatever reason, doesn't relay this information to anyone. And because of that, the other officers continue to treat the shooter as a barricaded subject. And again, there's no urgency to breach the classrooms. It's also around this time when the officers are trying to figure out if the classrooms were in session.

Bodycam footage shows an officer say, see if the class is in there right now or if they're somewhere else. Moments later, he gets a response. The classroom should be in session right now. The class should be in session. So now they got confirmation that the class is indeed in session, meaning the students and teachers were inside.

Following this, bodycam footage captures several officers discussing the situation at hand. One officer asks, are there any kids in there? Another response, class is in session. Moments later, an officer asks, he's in a class right now. To which someone else responds, yeah, with kids.

So, even though there's a huge lack of communication, many of these officers know that kids are inside the classroom with a gunman. Back inside of the.

At some point, the shooter even starts playing music on his phone. It's never been revealed what songs he was listening to, but survivors would later say that it was loud and sad music. Another person described it as, quote, I want people to die music. Now, while the shooter was in room 111, the surviving students in room 112 are hearing the shooter in the next room and they are terrified. But even in these frightening moments, they're still looking out for one another.

Chloe Torres and Maya Cerillo were in room 112, surrounded by their dead friends. Maya, who had been shot in the shoulder, even had one of her deceased friends lying on top of her at one point. But while the girls are lying there, Chloe whispers over to Maya and tells her to scoop up some of her classmates' blood and smear it all over her. That way, if the gunman comes back in, he will think they are dead. So that's what they do.

The girls gather up their friend's blood and cover themselves with it, something no 11-year-old girls should ever have to do. And from there, they close their eyes and play dead. Luckily, their plan works. The gunman would come back into their classrooms and he didn't notice. the girls were alive.

But the entire time, they just kept wondering when the police were coming. After all, they heard them outside in the hallway. So, why weren't they coming to save them? Well, the Uvalde police claim that they were waiting on equipment. And until they got that equipment, all they could do was wait.

Now, it's around this time as the officers are waiting around in the hallway. Video footage from inside the school shows Officer Ruben Ruiz check his phone, and then, shortly after, he steps out of frame. At that very moment, he was getting a call from his wife, Ava Moreles. On the call, Ava can barely even speak. Partly because the gunman was in the next room, but mostly because she was dying.

Some of the students inside room 112 said that they didn't even realize Ava was making a phone call, but they did hear her mumbling. And in those mumbles, she was telling her husband that she was dying. From there, Officer Ruiz steps back into frame and whispers to the other officers, quote, my wife shot.

Many people questioned why he didn't borrow a rifle and go save his wife and her students. Well, body cam footage did show him pushing through the officers saying she said she's shot, Johnny, but they quickly hold him back. Here's Officer Justin Mendoza explaining what happened. He wanted to get in there and we're trying to hold him back. You know, he was in there.

She shot. She shot. We need to get in there. These kids, and we know we need to get in there, but we don't have the right equipment. Now, the first responders claim that the reason they were taking so long is because they were waiting for more shields so that they could safely breach the classrooms.

They also were waiting for officers from the Department of Public Safety and BORTAC, which is an agency that had better equipment to deal with an active shooter situation. You know, I didn't even bother throwing my rifle plates at all. Like I said, we didn't have any shields, no flashbangs, nothing that we used to create a distraction to not only.

like not sound selfish, but make sure we go home at the end of the day, but at least more of these kids can go home at the end of the day. You know, understand, this is a job we signed up for. Yeah, we put our life on the line, but none of us have never been in this type of situation. None of us ever thought any of the situation would ever happen here, probably. Many of the officers admitted that they were scared to face a man with a rifle and without proper shields, they figured they would die themselves.

Realized we weren't equipped to make entry into their room without several casualties.

Going back now, that kind of haunts me that if it was a pistol or something, it would have been maybe a different thought process. At that point, we just we had no choice but just to wait and try to get some something that had better coverage, where we could actually stand up to him. At that point, we just secured the scene and just kept him contained into. what we thought at that point was that one classroom. Lieutenant Javier Martinez would later say, had anybody gone through that door, he would have killed whoever it was.

I mean, we can only carry so many ballistic vests on you. That 223 round would have gone right through you in the door. I mean, he was ready. He was ready for.

I called Mike and I know he is a special response team, so I think they got notified, so they will be on their way too. But I know that this is something that needs to be done like now, ASAP. And I also don't like standing right by the windows where we can get shot, bro.

He's going to hit you that time. You have nowhere to go, end quote. Then another officer is heard saying, quote, this is so sad, dude. He shot kids, bro, end quote. And look, I get it.

No one wants to get shot. And at the end of the day, everyone wants to go back home to their families. But while the officers sat around waiting for shields, the students inside room 112 were desperately waiting for the police to come in and save them. They also didn't have shields. And some of the injured children were bleeding out and dying.

So it's at this point when Chloe Torres decides to pull out her phone and dial 911.

. Now, we are going to play this 911 call for you, but it is a little hard to.

Okay. Yes, ma'am. I have a hospital unit there. Are you with officers? Are you in a hurricane somewhere?

. 112.. 112, yes, ma'am. What's your name, ma'am?

Yes, ma'am. Please seek help.

I know how to handle these situations. My dad taught me when I was a little girl.

Seek help from my teachers. That's all. I put their shot. If you couldn't hear that, the dispatcher says, I'm calling with the police department. Are you there?

Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Are you okay?

Send help. Some of my teachers are still alive, but they're shot.

But the fact that she even had to call 911 when the shooter was walking in and out of her classroom was horrible, because that put her life in danger.

But that wouldn't happen. Active shooter protocol was ignored here, and the kids would have to wait another 38 minutes for help to arrive. During that wait, Chloe would call 911 again.

But sadly, the shooter came in and killed her. And Chloe Torres watched as her best friend died right in front of her. Later on, Maya, the girl who rubbed blood all over herself, also called 911 several times. But the second call was the only one that came through. However, during that call, the dispatcher couldn't hear what she was saying.

So she was hung up on. There were seven different 911 calls that came from room 112. And still, the police would not come in to save them. Now again, the main argument for why the police didn't breach the classrooms was because they thought the shooter had barricaded himself and was in the classroom all alone. But clearly, with these 911 calls, that wasn't the case.

In reality, they were just too scared to go in. And just to show you how unorganized this entire operation was, many of the officers thought that that hallway had been cleared and that most of the classrooms were empty. One officer named Raimundo Lara was sitting at the end of the hall with his gun pointed towards room 112.. And to take a more safe position, he decided to open the classroom door behind him and lay down in the doorway. But as he did, he heard something behind him.

Body cam footage shows him peek into the classroom, where he saw dozens of students hiding. And he is shocked. I mean, in his mind, this hallway had already been evacuated. So he quickly tells the other officers, Hey, we have kids in here. They then go into the classroom and yell out, Is anyone hurt?

And the kids scream out. no, but they are all hysterically crying. The officers tell them to stay calm. And from there, the kids start jumping out of the classroom window to safety. Here is Sergeant Daniel Coronado.

And, as they did, they couldn't help but see the terror on the children's faces. Here's Sergeant Daniel Coronado explaining what this was like. And so we start pulling them out, pulling them out, pulling them out. And we're breaking the blinds, breaking the blinds and pulling them out. I could just see how scared they were.

I could see the fear in their face.

I didn't even cry about this at all. It's alright, man. Take your time. We're going to pause this recording.

And because they failed to set these up, there was a lot of miscommunication. Here is Officer Michael Walley describing the chaos.

Who's in charge? Excuse my language. But who's in charge? I'm a patrol officer. I can't, you know, I'm not in there.

I'm not in the hallway. I'm not talking to our gunman. I'm not talking to the guy who's talking to our gunman. No, communication is coming back out to me. So there's got to be someone else.

There's got to be someone else. that's in charge. Yeah. Someone tell me what to do. And you know this.

You've probably been wearing a badge a lot longer than I have. But chain of command is everything.

Here's one conversation that body cam footage picked up between an officer and a border patrol agent. The border patrol agent says, I thought he said victims. Room 12?.

And as each minute passed, many of the first responders are getting paranoid, knowing that they're taking far too long to breach the classrooms. One's heard saying, fuck, we're taking too long. Other officers ask, what are we doing? Some say it's been about an hour. What are we waiting on?

Does anybody know?

The building is secure in a lockdown status. Your cooperation is needed at this time by not visiting the campus. As soon as the lockdown status is lifted, you will be notified. Thank you for your cooperation. Signed, Anne Marie Espinoza.

Executive Director of Communications and Marketing, Uvalde, CISD. End quote. Now, even though this post asked the parents not to come to the school, no parent is actually going to listen. When you hear that there's an active shooter at your kid's school, your first thought is, I need to go get my child. And soon enough, hundreds of concerned parents are pulling up to Robb Elementary to see what's going on.

Earlier that day, a man named Alfred Garza was on his lunch break when his daughter's mother called and said there was an active shooter at Robb Elementary. Alfred's daughter was Anne Marie Garza, and she was a fourth grader in room 112.. Now, at the time, no one knew which rooms in the school had been targeted. But, like many other parents, Alfred immediately made his way over to Robb Elementary. There was so much traffic around the school, he actually had to park three blocks down and walk over, where a sea of concerned parents were waiting outside.

The officers had blocked off the entrances, and they weren't letting anyone in. They also informed the parents to stay calm and let them do their jobs. Alfred said the last thing he wanted to do was interfere, especially if they're inside trying to take down a gunman. He had full trust that the officers were taking care of things and keeping their children safe. But little did he know, that's not at all what they were doing.

In fact, his daughter, Anne Marie, had been shot in the abdomen inside room 112.

. And because of the 77-minute wait, she would pass away from her injuries. Alfred would later say if he were to have known what was going on inside the school, he would have gone home, grabbed his rifle, and did what the police failed to do, which is one of the many tragic parts of this story. While 400 police officers waited around, refusing to breach the classrooms because they were scared, there were probably 400 parents waiting outside that would have gone into those classrooms without a second thought. And as each minute passed, it was clear that the parents were growing frustrated with the lack of action.

Upon hearing about the shooting at the school, she too immediately made her way over. Now, when she arrived, one of the officers pointed to the building where the shooter was located, and she said her heart dropped. It was the same building where her son's classroom was. Over the next few minutes, she watched as other children in the building evacuated, but as her eyes scanned their faces, none of them were her son. Frantically, she texted her son's teacher, Irma Garcia, to see if everyone was okay, but she never got a response.

That's because Irma Garcia was already dead. But luckily, Jordan was one of the few kids in room 112 that would walk away uninjured.

Anjali had just been at the school earlier that morning for her children's awards ceremony, and then afterwards, she immediately went back to work. But just 10 minutes after she started working, she got the call about an active shooter at Robb Elementary. So Anjali rushes back, going 100 miles per hour down the roads. Once she arrives at the school, she hops out of her car and starts sprinting towards her children's classrooms. But as she gets closer to the building, a U.S.

Marshal stops her. She tries, telling him that two of her babies are inside, and she needs to get them, but the U.S. Marshal won't let her. Now Anjali, along with dozens of other parents, are furious. Here are all of these officers just standing around doing nothing, while their children are inside with the gunman.

So Anjali starts talking with the parents around her, saying, We should all just go in and save our children. If we all push forward, they can't stop all of us. I'm going to get my child. But the U.S. Marshal overhears her, and in response, he places her in handcuffs.

Now, after a few minutes, Anjali starts telling them, I'll cooperate, just please uncuff me. And they do. But as soon as she is uncuffed, she takes off running towards the school, hops the fence, and makes her way towards her son's classroom. Moments later, video from that day shows Anjali running from the school, holding her son's hand. Then, as soon as she got him to safety, she ran back towards the school, to grab her other child.

And again, a group of officers try to stop her. So she tells them, give me a vest, I'll go in there myself. Now, eventually, Anjali would go through and get her other child to safety as well. And while she was in the school, she said she heard gunshots throughout the hallway. But I think this story just goes to show that the students and their parents showed so much bravery that day.

And many of them were willing to put their lives on the line to save those children. Meanwhile, the hundreds of officers on scene were still keeping their distance, waiting around for backup. Anjali Gomez would later tell CBS News about the officers, quote, If anything, they were being more aggressive towards us, parents that were willing to go in there. And, like I told one of the officers, quote, I don't need you to protect me. If anything, I need you to go in there with me to go protect my kids.

They were more focused on keeping us back than getting into that school. End quote. Now we are going to play you a short little clip of the chaos going on outside with the parents and families. You're not gonna be able to make out anything they are saying. But I do think it does a great job showing just how chaotic the entire day was.

Oh my God!

So why weren't any of the officers willing? By now, the shooting had been going on for over an hour. And they were still waiting for backup to arrive.

But Ms. Eva Morales didn't. She was alive for most of the shooting. Chloe said that in the first few minutes of the shooting, she watched her teacher scream and cry on the classroom floor. But as time passed, she became weaker.

And Ms. Morales began mumbling to her students that she didn't want to die. But she knew deep down that she was dying. And before bleeding out, Ms. Morales spoke about wanting to speak to her daughter.

It was her dying wish. The students felt hopeless watching their teacher in this condition. They said she even grabbed a plastic bag. And with the little energy she had left, she wrapped it around her arm where she had been shot. And then, just before the police breached the classroom, she began vomiting.

And not long after that, Ms. Morales would pass away from her injuries. Which is heartbreaking. If the police would have gone in right away, she likely would have lived. But that's not how this story played out.

Now, according to the Uvalde police, the reason they didn't breach the classrooms right away was because, one, they thought the gunman was barricaded by himself. But we've already established that they knew there were children in the classroom with the gunman. Chloe Torres' 911 call proved that. And the second reason on why they didn't breach the classrooms was that they were waiting around on backup. And that backup was the Border Patrol Tactical Unit, otherwise known as BORTAC.

Now, BORTAC ended up getting to the school at 12.

09 PM, about 40 minutes into the shooting. But, believe it or not, after they arrived, Police Chief Pete Arredondo told them to wait. You see, two classes down from room 111 was room 109, which still had a full classroom of students inside. And the door to their classroom was locked. Now, Police Chief Arredondo wanted to wait for a master key so he could get their classroom evacuated before they went in to stop the gunman.

Which is wild. He knew full and well that there were several children inside the room with the gunman. But his main priority was finding a key to the room. two doors over. Arredondo is even heard saying on body cam footage, quote, Get one of those school officials out here to give you a master key to the rooms.

As soon as I clear this room, I'm going to verify what's been vacated before we do any kind of breaching. Time is on our side right now. End quote. Time is on our side. As children are bleeding out in the classroom with the gunman.

After this, he says, quote, I know we probably have kids in there, but we've got to save the lives of the other ones. End quote. So he's saying out loud that he wants to save the kids in room 109 before he saves the children in room 112.. And he said this knowing that people had been shot and that there were multiple casualties. Chloe said in her call, there's a lot of dead bodies.

But apparently the kids in room 109 were just more of a priority than the children who were literally dying from baseball-sized gunshot wounds. Now, it seems as if Pete Arredondo can sense the urgency of some of his fellow officers. After nearly an hour of not breaching the classrooms, they want to get in there and save the children. But in response to this urgency, Pete Arredondo says, quote, We are going to get rid of the kids first before we do any kind of breaching. So tell the guys to calm the fuck down for a minute.

End quote.

For nearly 20 minutes, the Border Patrol Tactical Unit is waiting around in the hallway. They're ready to breach the classroom and take down the gunmen, but they're still waiting on Room 109 to be evacuated. The officers stand in front of Room 109 for several minutes, using a number of different keys to try and unlock the door. Meanwhile, people in Room 111 and 112 are bleeding out and dying. But finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Room 109 was eventually evacuated, and only then was the Border Patrol Tactical Unit giving clearance to take down the gunmen.

It was now 12.

50 p.

m.

, 77 minutes into the shooting, and the Border Patrol Tactical Unit carefully made their way down the hallway, towards Room 111.

. With their shields up and rifles ready, they quickly unlocked the door and breached the classroom. In the back left corner of the room, the gunman was standing in front of a closet door, near the window. He fired several shots. One bullet even grazed an officer's head.

But over the next few seconds, the sound of gunfire echoed throughout the school. By the time it was over, the gunman was on the ground, dead. Here's the audio of the gunshots that took down the gunman.

But he quickly realized he couldn't move at all. So from there, they grabbed him by his pants, pulled him into the hallway, and then brought him to the hospital. In Room 112, the 13 surviving children were still hidden all throughout the classroom. Some were even lying on the floor, amongst their dead friends. And many had been shot by the gunman.

Hold on.

Where's the suspect? He's dead.

EMTs first! EMTs first!

Over the next few minutes, the children were evacuated out of the building. But unfortunately, due to the chaos outside of Robb Elementary, it was extremely difficult getting people to the hospital. So some had to be treated right there in the parking lot. One of these people was Ms. Ava Moreles.

Sadly, when the EMS got to her, she was still alive. But right as she was loaded up into an ambulance, she would take her final breath and pass away. The same thing would happen to three students who were in Room 112.. Jackie Cazares, Jose Flores, and Xavier Lopez. All had heartbeats as they were pulled out of their classroom.

But all three would end up passing away. Sadly, if the police would have gotten to these injured victims sooner, they likely would have survived.

But something that broke her heart was the look of primal fear on her son's face. He was in survival mode. Something no child should ever have to go through.

J. Martinez. Believe it or not, A.J. had been shot in the leg, but he too was running from the school. And just to show you how unorganized everything was that day, A.J.

wasn't even put in an ambulance. At the time, school buses were taking children from the school and driving them to the local civic center to be reunited with their parents. And despite A.J. having a gunshot wound to his leg, they put him on a school bus. His parents were actually at Robb Elementary that day, and as soon as they saw him run out of the school, they tried to run over to him, but the police held them back.

When his parents asked why he wasn't going in an ambulance, they were told that the ambulances were reserved for the deceased children. So he couldn't go in one. It was also reported that there were several injured kids on that school bus. And because of that, there was blood everywhere. Here is a video of Chloe Torres on that bus.

In it, she is absolutely covered in her friend's blood. And here is what she tells the officer.

Okay. We'll find out if everybody's alright. I was on the phone with the police officer. Oh, that was you? Okay.

Okay. You're so brave. You are so brave. I was trying not to cry.

I wanted to see if she was injured. She says, It's not my blood. It's my friend's blood. But she has too much of it. So I start cleaning her up little by little.

She has a sweater in her hand. And I tell her, I'm going to ask you to be a big girl. She says, Okay, but I just want my mommy. Please. I just want my mommy.

I said, I promise I'll get you your mommy. But for now, I need you to put on this sweater. I'm cleaning you up the best I can before I let you go. When I get to her little face, I notice she had shards. She's bleeding.

It was so heartbreaking.

I don't know his name. I just remember his face. He was a small little boy with glasses. He would just cry. They were here for maybe two hours.

These scared, scared kids. It was an incredibly hopeless situation. Parents would come into the funeral home absolutely distraught, their tearful eyes darting all over the room, trying to find their children. Some would eventually find them. Others would not.

One of the parents who helped was Alfred Garza. He didn't know it at the time, but his daughter, Amory, had died in room 112.. But despite his fears, he did everything he could to help other children that day. Monica would later say, he was in here and he helped take the boys to the restroom because it was chaotic. Alfred was here and he was so calm.

. As you know, in room 111, every single child in that classroom lost their life. Around the room, desks were pushed around. Pencils, paper, shoes, and bullet casings scattered the floor, showing the absolute chaos that took place inside. Then, in the right-hand corner of the room, were the bodies.

All 11 children inside room 111 were found huddled together in the corner under a desk. There was blood and tissue everywhere. Their bodies had been so mutilated in the attack, some of them didn't even look human. And then, right above their little bodies, on the whiteboard, was something so disturbing, the officers couldn't even believe what they were looking at. During the shooting, the gunman had dipped his fingers into the victim's blood and used it to write LOL on the whiteboard, laughing out loud.

That's the message he wanted to portray. As a group of investigators began identifying what was left of their bodies, another group went to work room 112.. And there, they found a similar scene. In that room, 10 people would lose their lives, eight students and two teachers. The victims of room 112 were also found in the back corner of the classroom.

The teachers, Irma Garcia and Eva Moreles, were located in front of their students. It was clear that they had been trying to guard them from the gunman. Irma Garcia was found dead, holding some of her students in her arms. In her very last moments, she was doing everything she could to make them feel protected. The scene in these two classrooms was unlike anything the investigators had ever seen.

The victims' bodies were riddled with baseball-sized holes. Some of their bodies were so mutilated they would later have to be identified through DNA or by what they were wearing. that day. Dr. Roy Guerrero, who is the pediatrician that testified for the House Committee, would later say, quote, two children whose bodies had been so pulverized by the bullets fired at them, decapitated, whose flesh had been so ripped apart that the only clue as to their identities was the blood-spattered cartoon clothes still clinging to them.

Clinging for life, but finding none. End. quote. The crime scene was so brutal that some of the officers on scene ended up getting sick. Here is body cam footage of some of the officers running outside, crying, and vomiting after what they just saw.

Nothing could prepare you for what they brought out. It's horrible.

But then the school buses of children began to show up, and you're desperately scanning the crowd, hoping to see your child's face. But bus after bus, your child is still not there. But you're still holding on to hope. I'm sure they're just on their way over. Maybe they're injured and lagging behind.

However, as each hour passes, the parents who are still waiting around begin to feel a knot in their stomachs. They also begin to recognize the other parents standing around. And it soon becomes clear that the only parents here are parents from Room 111 and 112.. And that's when the real fear starts to settle in. There were a lot of tears at the Civic Center that day.

Strangers were even crying and embracing each other. Some of the families formed prayer circles, pleading with God to just bring their baby home. But soon enough, the sun began to set, and the crowds grew smaller. Later that night, officials began pulling the parents inside and taking DNA samples. Sadly, for some of the children, their bodies were so mutilated, DNA is the only way they could be identified.

And then, by midnight, there were only around 40 people still at the Civic Center, all of whom had children in Room 111 and 112.

. Officials then gathered them all together, and it was then when they were informed that their child had passed away.

As a lot of you probably know, Courtney and I's time is already really stretched thin. We have multiple projects that we're working on. I'm working on a documentary. We're posting a video every week on YouTube, a podcast, a second podcast, so we don't have a lot of extra time in our lives, especially when it comes to cooking. I know that for myself, at the end of a long workday, the last thing that I want to do is get in the kitchen and cook myself something.

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Don't forget to use our link, so they know we sent you. Anyways, let's get back to today's episode.

We're gonna dig into what happened next, and what we can change in the future in next week's episode. So, do not miss that podcast. I want to thank some of our new patrons this week who helped make this podcast possible. Fernando Ruiz, Owen Jarman, Parsa Kianpour, Bree Chantal Berry, Ann R, Kelsey Wheeler, Hope, Alicia, Seymour, Noemi, Binette, Layla Gockley, Jordan Gattis, Megan Collis, Lena A, Jessica Kleek, Daniela Mazzone, and so many more. If you guys like what we do here on the podcast and you want to help support us so we can continue making these episodes far into the future, consider signing up on Patreon.

For just $5 a month, you get access to every episode of our show early and ad-free. For $10 a month, you get that, plus two full-length bonus episodes of Murder in America, posted every other week. And for $20 a month, you get four full-length bonus episodes of the show. These are episodes that sound like and are as long as every other episode that we post on our main feed, but these episodes will never be made public. So, if you love the show and you want to get access to a library of episodes that are online, head to our Patreon now.

Also, make sure to follow us on Instagram at Murder in America, where we post photos from every case that we cover and you can keep up with Courtney and I. And also, please take a couple seconds and head to Apple Podcasts, the podcast app, on your phone, or wherever you listen to your podcasts and leave us a five-star review. We love hearing from y'all and it helps us so much with our growth and everything. But anyways, such a tragic story. Next week, we're going to cover the end of this story and yeah, it's not an episode to miss.

But, Courtney and I love y'all. Thank you so much for listening and yeah, we'll catch you on the next one.

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