Teacher Loses All Eleven Children In His Class In Texas Massacre: “Those Loitering Cops Are Cowards” | Abroad

Reyes looked back in horror on that damn 24th of May, a day that started off quite normally. The children were even honored for their good school results. After the ceremony, some students had already left home with their parents.

All hell would break loose for the eleven remaining students in his class. They were watching a movie when suddenly shots rang out. “The kids asked me what was going on, but I didn’t know myself. I told them to duck under the table and pretend they were asleep.”

At that moment, Salvador Ramos entered the room from the adjacent classroom. Reyes got one bullet through his arm into his lung, another hit him in the back. “I kept quiet and prayed that none of my students would make a sound. I thought I was going to die.”

The gunman had broken into the school at 11:33 a.m. and was said to fire more than a hundred bullets in total. Seven officers followed him into the building, but withdrew during a firefight. It would eventually take until 12.50 pm before the classroom was effectively stormed.

The corps has already had to take a lot of criticism for that late intervention. To Reyes, those 77 minutes felt endless. The fact that several students have in the meantime contacted the emergency services by telephone in panic only increases the frustration.

“From classroom 112, a child begged for help,” the teacher recalled. “’Officer, here we are,’ he shouted. The shooter stood up, walked over there and started shooting again.”

“Those cops are cowards,” Reyes said bluntly. “They were there, but they didn’t do anything all this time. I will never forgive them for that. When the raid finally followed, the bullets flew around. Afterwards I couldn’t stand up anymore.”

A long recovery awaits Reyes. “The more I think about it, the angrier I get. At least those cops had a bulletproof vest, I had nothing. They have a duty to protect the population, there is no excuse for their failure.”

The emotional toll leaves deep marks. “Families mourn their child, I lost eleven that day. I apologized to my parents. “Please don’t be mad at me,” I said. I did my best and acted as I was told.”

For Reyes, it’s crystal clear: there is no training that can adequately prepare students and educators for the scenario of a runaway gunman. “We teach them to sit under the table, but that’s how you make easy prey. It is the gun laws that need to change.”

Reyes now wants to make it his life’s work to bring about a change in policy. “These children and my colleagues must not have died in vain. I will continue to fight for them, even if I have to go to the moon.”