A 10-year-old girl, trapped in her classroom as a gunman roamed the halls of her school, repeatedly called 911 getting more and more desperate.
Khloie Torres was hiding in classroom 112 at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, after her friends and a teacher had been massacred.
“Please hurry. There is a lot of dead bodies," she told the police dispatcher.
Her desperate pleas for help came as hundreds of law enforcement officials gathered outside but did not enter any classrooms, reports CNN.
Khloie made the first call at 12.10pm, half an hour after the teenage gunman had entered the school.
It still took another 40 minutes for police to enter the classroom where she was hiding and finally challenging the shooter.
Until then Salvador Rolando Ramos roamed between classroom 112 and 111 continuing the slaughter. By the time he was killed by police, 18 children and one teacher were dead with another child and another teacher dying later from their injuries.
Throughout the ordeal Khloie stayed on the line to the dispatcher, trying to relay information to police as her classmates lay dead and injured around her.
She made multiple calls, at one point pleading: “Please get help. I don’t wanna die. My teacher is dead. Oh my God.”
The dispatcher told her to keep quiet and try do the same for other survivors.
She tells the operator: “I’m telling everyone to be quiet but nobody is listening to me."
Eventually off-duty Border Patrol officers enter the classroom while bypassing other officers.
The shooter was hiding in a closet but kicks the door open and starts shooting at officers as they return fire.
Ramos was killed ending the horrific slaughter.
Thankfully Khloie survived but many others didn't.
Khloie’s father, Ruben Torres, praised his daughter's actions saying: “That day, the things that she did were absolutely incredible."
He also slammed the emergency service response saying: “None of them had courage that day.”
The school district police chief, Pete Arredondo, was fired in August after the Uvalde school board voted unanimously to terminate his contract, and all district officers were placed on temporary leave in early October.
The Texas Department of Public Safety said that before tactical units arrived, police officers inside the school, who numbered at least 19, made "no effort" to breach the room where Ramos was located.
Many of the investigations into the response to the shooting are still ongoing.
CNN reported that Ryan Kindell, a member of the elite Texas Rangers unit, has been suspended and is being investigated for his alleged inaction during the shooting.
In the wake of the shooting, the entire school district police force was suspended.
In a statement, the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District wrote: "Recent developments have uncovered additional concerns with department operations.
"As a result of the developments, Lt Miguel Hernandez and Ken Mueller have been placed on administrative leave.
"The District has made the decision to suspend all activities of the Uvalde CISD Police Department for a period of time.
"Officers currently employed will fill other roles in the district. Ken Mueller has elected to retire."
It is not clear how long the department suspension will last.
The school district said it requested additional officers from the Texas Department of Public Safety to provide campus security.
