Reuters
A ten-year-old woman who survived the mass taking pictures in Uvalde final week says her finest good friend—one of many 19 kids killed at Robb Elementary Faculty—tried to reassure her all the things can be OK when the gunman first confirmed up.
“She was the one massive good friend I had,” Khloe Torres instructed native information outlet KENS 5 of her finest good friend, Amerie Jo Garza. Garza, one of many first kids to be shot within the classroom after the teenager gunman barricaded himself inside, died calling 911 to get assist.
The fourth-grader spent the preliminary moments of the classroom lockdown attempting to consolation others, Torres stated.
“We had been instructed we had been going into lockdown. My good friend was saying that it was actually regular, and don’t be scared. Nothing goes to occur,” she instructed KENS 5.
After the primary gunshots rang out, Torres stated she and the opposite kids hid, and she or he was “wanting on the floor as a result of I used to be scared.”
Then the gunman, recognized by police as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, got here into the classroom and one of many fourth-grade lecturers tried to protect the kids. Academics Irma Garcia and Eva Mireles had been each killed as they tried to guard the youngsters.
“She ran over to us and sat down,” Torres stated of one of many lecturers. “And began overlaying my good friend. She began saying no, as a result of he stated you'll die. And he shot my good friend with the cellphone, and he shot my lecturers Ms. Garcia and Ms. Mireles.”
Torres recalled turning off Garza’s cellphone after she was shot, as a result of, she stated, “I didn’t need anybody else to get harm.”
As for her slain classmates, she stated, “I might inform them I cherished them. And that I'm going to overlook them.”
Torres’ gut-wrenching account of the bloodbath comes as the agricultural Texas city has begun burying the victims, with 11 funerals set to be held this week. Garza, who had simply celebrated her tenth birthday on Could 10, was laid to relaxation Tuesday at Hillcrest Memorial Cemetery.
A day earlier, an 11-year-old classmate of Garza’s held vigil at a memorial to her within the city’s sq.—and paid tribute to the bravery the slain fourth-grader confirmed each throughout the lethal siege and earlier than.
In keeping with the Texas Tribune, because the younger woman was seen sobbing in entrance of a cross that includes Amerie’s identify, her father, David Treviño, defined why Garza was so particular to her.
“She would stick up for her for the bullies to cease selecting on her. [My daughter] is taking it actually arduous. She would shield her from the bullies.”