A teacher who survived the 2022 shooting in a Robb Elementary school classroom in Uvalde, Texas, told a jury Monday that the attack began with a "black shadow" with a gun walking inside and that he prayed for the attack to be over after being shot along with his students. Arnulfo Reyes' testimony came on the fifth day of the trial for Adrian Gonzales, a former Uvalde schools police officer who was among the first law enforcement responders to arrive, the AP reports. Gonzales has pleaded not guilty to 29 counts of child abandonment or endangerment; prosecutors allege he did nothing to stop the gunman in the first moments of the attack.
The gunman killed 19 students and two teachers. Reyes was shot on the arm and back and said he was taunted by 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos. He said he looked at the doorway of Room 111 and saw a black shadow holding a gun. "I just saw the fire come out of the gun," Reyes testified. "He shot at me and hit me in my arm. That's when I fell to the ground. When I fell, he came around and he shot the kids." Reyes said Ramos turned back around and shot him in the back. The teacher said he then prayed "and I gave myself to the Lord ... and waited for everything to be over." None of the children in his classroom survived.
Just before Reyes testified, the court watched the surveillance video of Ramos entering the school and starting to shoot. Gonzales showed no emotion as emergency calls to police were made and a woman is heard screaming, "Get in your room!" He appeared to flinch when the first loud shots rang out in the hallway. He also covered his mouth with his hand. Gonzales was among the first of more than 370 federal, state, and local officers to arrive at the school. It would take more than an hour for a tactical team to go into a classroom and kill the gunman. Gonzales and former Uvalde schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo are the only two responding officers that day to face charges. Arredondo's trial has not been scheduled.
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