4th grade survivor of Texas college shooting describes gunman’s words earlier than opening fire

Survivors of the Texas elementary faculty taking pictures are recounting the gunman's eerie last phrases of "Good night" and "You're all gonna die" earlier than opening fire, and the way some performed dead to be spared within the spray of bullets.

Fourth grade student Miah Cerrillo, 11, advised CNN her class was watching “Lilo and Sew” when the shooter appeared Tuesday at Robb Elementary in Uvalde.

She said the gunman looked at one in every of her academics in the eye and mentioned, “Good night” earlier than capturing her.

Miah told her story via a CNN producer. She did not need to speak on digital camera and declined to speak to any males following her experience with the college taking pictures and only felt comfortable speaking to ladies, the broadcaster stated. NBC News could not instantly confirm the account.

Miah herself was hit by fragments within the hail of bullets, CNN reported.

After firing pictures in her classroom, the shooter went into the adjoining classroom and opened fire, Miah mentioned. She said she heard “unhappy music” taking part in, believing the gunman put it on. 

When requested what the music was, she said it seemed like, “I want folks to die music.”

Miah said that when the gunman went into the other room she smeared a buddy’s blood on herself to look lifeless. She additionally mentioned she and a friend grabbed their teacher’s phone and known as 911, telling a dispatcher, “Please ship assist as a result of we’re in trouble.” 

In the Tuesday horror, 19 children and two academics have been killed, and another 17 were wounded.

A Robb Elementary teacher, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told NBC News that a Raptor alert, a program designed to alert workers of a lockdown, went off after shots have been fired and kids started to cover below their desks within the class. 

Samuel Salinas, 10, was a pupil in trainer Irma Garcia’s class on Tuesday when the varsity capturing unfolded.

“It was a normal day until my trainer said we’re on severe lockdown” and “then there was shooting in the windows,” he mentioned in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Friday.

He stated that the gunman barged into the classroom, introduced, “You’re all gonna die,” after which started to shoot. 

“He shot the teacher and then he shot the kids,” Samuel stated. 

He explained that he survived by taking part in dead after he obtained hit within the leg with shrapnel that hit a chair between him and the shooter.

“I think he was aiming at me,” Samuel said. “I performed dead so he wouldn’t shoot me.”

When police lastly entered the room and shot the gunman, the kids have been evacuated. In the rushed exit, Samuel saw the our bodies of his instructor and different pupils.

“There was blood on the bottom,” he stated. “And there have been kids ... full of blood.” 

The investigation into the capturing is ongoing, and lots of questions remain as to why it took police so lengthy to take out the gunman.

The shooter, Salvador Ramos, 18, was killed at the scene.

In a news conference Thursday, Texas officials walked back previously released information, saying the gunman wasn’t confronted by a school police officer and entered the varsity building unobstructed.

Police now say it took over an hour from the first 911 call to stop the massacre.

Officials shared a new timeline revealing that at 11:28 a.m. Tuesday the gunman crashed a car near the college and shot at two folks outdoors a funeral dwelling across the street, then climbed over a fence to Robb Elementary.

Officers stated the first 911 name came in at 11:30 a.m., the gunman entered the varsity 10 minutes later and four minutes later police have been on the scene. The first officers on the scene referred to as for backup, however tactical teams didn’t arrive till about an hour later, Victor Escalon, the South Texas regional director for the state Department of Public Safety, said Thursday.

Texas investigators advised NBC News victims of the taking pictures have been present in 4 classrooms.

Robb Elementary serves second by way of fourth grade students in the small city of Uvalde, which is about 75 miles from the Mexico borders and home to a big Latino community.

Dad and mom and loved ones who had been gathered outside Robb Elementary in the course of the taking pictures begged and shouted at police to enter and shield their kids.

Angeli Rose Gomez instructed The Wall Avenue Journal she was handcuffed by U.S. marshals exterior the college for repeatedly demanding police enter the college. 

“The police had been doing nothing,” she stated to the paper. “They were simply standing exterior the fence. They weren’t stepping into there or working wherever.” 

She stated at first she waited patiently then when she grew to become extra fervent together with her pleas, U.S. marshals allegedly arrested her for intervening in an energetic investigation. 

Marshals told NBC Information in a statement that deputy marshals “by no means arrested or placed anybody in handcuffs whereas securing the crime scene perimeter.”

“Our deputy marshals maintained order and peace within the midst of the grief-stricken group that was gathering around the college."

Marlene Lenthang is a breaking information reporter for NBC News Digital.

Pete Williams and Jonathan Dienst contributed.