A teacher who survived the Uvalde, Texas mass school shooting has slammed the police called to the scene as ‘cowards’.
Arnulfo Reyes, who was in the classroom when the gunman killed 21 people, spoke with ABC’s Amy Robach yesterday, Tuesday (June 7), where he recalled the morning of the tragedy and said it was going to be a ‘good’ day.
He had planned to show The Addams Family as a treat for his fourth-grade class, who had recently completed their final tests.
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However, around 11.30 am, the teacher heard gunshots on campus and quickly warned students to get under their desks and act ‘asleep, just as they had rehearsed in previous drills.
“The kids were yelling, 'What's going on, Mr Reyes?'" he said.
"[The students] were going under the table, and I was trying to get them to do that as fast as I could.”
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He added: “When I turned around. I just saw him standing there.”
As the massacre unfolded, Reyes said it ‘destroyed’ him as 19 children and two teachers were all shot dead from inside the classroom.
Reyes, who sustained multiple gunshots himself, ripped into law enforcement, panning them as ‘cowards’ for not confronting the 18-year-old gunman sooner.
According to officials from the Texas Department of Public Safety, ‘numerous’ police officers did not try to break into the classroom initially, as per CNN.
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Instead, they waited for the specialist tactical unit and began evacuating children and staff members from other classrooms.
Reyes, who is still recovering from a hospital in San Antonio, is demanding change in the wake of the mass shooting to ensure his students and colleagues don’t die ‘in vain’.
He said: "I will go to the end of the world to make sure things get changed. If that's what I have to do for the rest of my life, I will do it.”
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The police's response to the attack has been largely criticised, with a federal investigation already underway, according to The Guardian.
A spokesperson for the US Department of Justice Anthony Coley shared that the mayor of Uvalde, Don McLaughlin, had requested the investigation.
Coley said: “The goal of the review is to provide an independent account of law enforcement actions and responses that day, and to identify lessons learned and best practices to help first responders prepare for and respond to active shooter events.”
Charisa Bossinakis