A 10-year-old who survived the shooting at Uvalde’s Robb Elementary School has revealed the words of her best friend before she was killed.
Khole Torres said and her classmates were watching the film “Lilo & Stitch” when the gunman entered the school – sending students into lockdown.
Then gunshots started, she said in an interview with KENS 5, and “I was looking at the ground because I was scared”.
Her friend Amerie Jo Garza sought to reassure her that everything would be fine before she was shot dead, however.
“We were told we were going into lockdown,” said Khloe. “My friend was saying this normal. Don’t be scared. Nothing is going to happen.”
Ramos eventually entered the connected classrooms of teachers Eva Mireles and Irma Garcia, who have since been praised by students for their bravery. Both were among the victims.
“She ran over to us and sat down,” Khloe said of her teacher. “And started covering my friend. She started saying no. Because he said you will die.”
Khloe said he then “shot my friend with the phone, and he shot my teachers Ms Garcia and Ms Mireles,” said Khloe.
Amerie had been attempting to call 911 with the phone, the report said, and was among multiple people inside the classroom to do so.
Khloe added that she switched Amerie’s phone off to avoid alerting the gunman to her location in the classroom and said “I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt”.
Khloe survived the attack, and was carried out of the classroom covered in blood.
Other students who survived the massacre have also recalled covering themselves in blood to fool the gunman, including 10-year-old Miah Cerrillo.
Miah said in an interview with CNN last week that bullets flew by her head and that she was able to use a dead teacher’s phone to call 911, saying “please come, we’re in trouble”.
A week since the shooting, Khloe said she would tell her friends: “I would tell them I loved them, and that I am going to miss them.”
An investigation into the police response is ongoing amid questions about the decision of the Uvalde school district police to wait an hour before storming the classroom, when Ramos was shot dead.
