Teacher relives the day all his students were killed in Uvalde massacre for officer’s trial

Eric Gay/Pool/AP via CNN Newsource

Corpus Christi, Texas (CNN) — Elementary school teacher Arnulfo Reyes testified Monday how he came face-to-face with a gunman who would massacre every child in his classroom seconds later.

“I looked at my door and that’s where I saw him. A black shadow,” Reyes told a jury hearing a case stemming from the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in May 2022.

“The black shadow was holding a gun. And I know that he was holding a gun because I just saw the fire come out of the gun,” he said.

Reyes was shot, holding up his left forearm for the prosecutors, scars clearly visible beneath his short-sleeve shirt.

He said the gunman went to a connected classroom when a student called out from there: “Officer, come in here! We’re in here!”

“I heard (the gunman walk) over there, and then I heard more shooting,” he told the jury deciding the fate of Adrian Gonzales, who is on trial accused of not doing more to stop or delay the massacre at Robb Elementary.

Gonzales has pleaded not guilty to 29 counts of endangering or abandoning a child. It’s the second criminal case brought against a law enforcement officer for their actions during a school shooting.

Reyes, who told his story to CNN soon after he was released from the hospital in the summer of 2022, repeated how the shooter stayed with him as he lay on the floor.

“He tried to taunt me, he got some of my blood and splashed it on my face,” Reyes said Monday. He was also shot in the back as he was on the floor, pretending to be dead, he added.

Reyes, a teacher for 17 years has not been in a classroom since the attack, said he was awake and alert when a team led by Border Patrol officers finally came in and challenged the gunman, 77 minutes after he first walked into the school.

“As I was laying there, I heard like the door open, and then I heard a little clanking at the desks, the metal, and that’s when I told myself, ‘They’re coming in. Anything can happen.’ And I pretty much prayed. And I just gave myself to the Lord and closed my eyes real tight and just waited for everything to be over.”

After rounds of gunfire, he heard a man speak. “What I assumed was Border Patrol, because I think I read it somewhere on his clothing, he had said, ‘Get up if you can get up or talk if you can talk.’ And that’s when I spoke, and I said, ‘I’m here, I’m alive.’”

He testified how he was dragged down the hallway by his pants leg to receive medical attention.

Prosecutor Bill Turner confirmed with Reyes that he kept pictures of all the students killed at Robb Elementary on the fence outside his home, and then asked him to identify them and their fate on that tragic day.

He read the names of all 11 students present in his classroom as their smiling photos were shown on a screen in court. Name after name, followed by “She did not survive.” “He did not survive.”

Reyes read the names of those killed in the next-door classroom too, before getting to 10 who survived the attack and botched law enforcement response.

Gonzales’ lawyer Nico LaHood discussed safety protocols with Reyes, asking him whether there was a culture of unlocked doors at Robb Elementary.

And he pushed him on who was in charge of following procedure in a lockdown.

“Whose responsibility is it in Room 111 to make sure those doors are locked?” LaHood asked.

“That would be my responsibility,” Reyes answered.

Cross-examination of Reyes is expected to continue Tuesday morning.

It’s the second week of the trial for Gonzales, who was the first member of law enforcement to arrive at the school while the gunman was still outside. According to his indictment, the former officer failed to “follow and attempt to follow his active shooter training.”

If convicted, he could face six months to two years in jail and a fine of up to $10,000 for each count.

Last week, three Robb Elementary teachers told jurors what they went through when a gunman came to their campus and massacred two of their colleagues and 19 students.

Two of the survivors recounted how they called 911 to get police to come and help, giving details about the shooter and where he was. One described how a student told her she was bleeding after shots came through their classroom window.

The wrenching testimony of what they were thinking and their recorded, panicked cries for help caused families watching the trial to weep, while the jury listened intently.

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