Robb Elementary School teacher Arnulfo Reyes was shot two times by the Uvalde, Texas, mass murderer on May 24. His classroom ended up being the main target of the worthless shooter’s violence. Eleven of Reyes’ students—every student present in his classroom that day—were killed. Reyes gave his first interview since the shooting, speaking with Good Morning America from his hospital bed, where he is recovering from his wounds. Reyes made it clear that training or no training, laws need to be changed—as the speed with which the tragedy unfolded, along with the absolutely negligent and incompetent Uvalde police response, proved how useless active shooter safety drills are.
After hearing initial gunshots and his students asking what was happening, the teacher directed them to hide under the tables. “I told them to act like they were asleep and I would act like I was asleep also,” Reyes explained. He was shot in the back and the leg, and his lung was punctured. Police were already on the scene, and reportedly inside the school building within two minutes of the gunman entering. The officers retreated after taking “gun fire.” Reyes says at that point one of the children from the room connecting to his classroom yelled out “officer, we are in here.” No officers came but the gunman got up, walked over, and killed the student who had spoken.
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Reyes said he played dead and prayed the entire time, with the police doing next to nothing. At some point they reportedly spoke through the window, asking the gunman to come out and then retreating once again to do nothing. The veteran teacher said he felt abandoned by the police, and felt the children had been abandoned by the police, too. “After everything, I am more angry, because you have a bullet proof vest, I had nothing,” he said.
Through tears, Reyes directed that justifiable anger at the Uvalde police: “You are supposed to protect and serve. There is no excuse for their actions and I will never forgive them. I would never forgive them.” Reyes lost 11 children in his classroom to the gunman’s bullets.
There’s a reason the Uvalde Police Department has clammed up. They’re cowards, acted cowardly, and now children are dead. It’s not entirely their fault, but it seems clear that they made things worse than if the Uvalde Police Department hadn’t existed at all. For all of those folks stressed out about “defund the police” as a slogan, let’s remember that the police need to prove to Americans, not the other way around, why they should be given anything. So far, Texas Republicans have offered up nothing except the promise to stop children from attending drag shows.
Reyes doesn’t believe he will ever return to teaching but also feels that his life’s work will be making sure that these fallen children and his fellow teachers who were killed make a difference. “I will go anywhere, to the end of the world, to not let my students die in vain,” he said.
The Good Morning America crew went on to say that they only aired some of the interview because of how brutal the entire account was. Reyes was inconsolable at times, pleading that the parents of the dead children know he did all that he could, and unlike the police that waited outside, he did not have a bulletproof vest or all of their weapons.
Warning: The nine-minute segment is awful and heartbreaking.
Elie Mystal is on Daily Kos' The Brief podcast
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