A transcript of a 911 call from one of the students in the Uvalde classroom who was attacked by Ramos Salvador has revealed that one of the two teachers killed in the massacre might have survived had police not waited an hour to locate the gunman turn off.
“There are a lot of bodies,” 10-year-old Khloie Torres told an emergency dispatcher at 12:10 p.m. on May 24 after Ramos opened fire on Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, the New York Times reported.
Khloie added that one of her teachers was shot but is still alive and has asked for help.
“I don’t want to die, my teacher is dead, my teacher is dead, please send help, send help to my teacher, she has been shot but is still alive,” the desperate girl pleaded.
The fourth grader did not say whether Irma Garcia or Eva Mireles, the two teachers who were shot, were injured.
The 10-year-old stayed on the line for around 17 minutes – and gunshots were heard in the background 11 minutes into the call.
“There are a lot of bodies,” 10-year-old Khloie Torres (pictured with her parents) told a 911 dispatcher at 12:10 p.m. on the day of the shooting at a Texas school
Teachers Irma Garcia (left) and Eva Mireless (right) were killed in the massacre
Khloie said her fourth-grade classroom in Room 112 was watching a movie when her teacher, Irma Garcia, told the class to lock down — turn off the movie and lock the classroom door, the Times reported.
But Garcia struggled to find the keys to the door and when she found the right key, 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos was at the door.
“He grabbed the door and opened it,” Khloie said.
As Khloie and her classmates hid under tables, she said she heard Ramos say, “You’re going to die” and fire his gun while Garcia tried to protect her students.
The 10-year-old said she also overheard Ramos saying “goodnight” before shooting at her classmates.
When a student who was hit shouted “I’m shot,” he caught the attention of Ramos, who returned to the wounded child and shot him, Khloie told the Times.
As Ramos moved between the adjoining classroom where teacher Eva Mireles was, Khloie said she took the opportunity to quietly call out, “Is anyone okay? Is anyone hurt?’ to which a classmate replied, “Yes”
Khloie’s 911 call is further proof that lives could have been saved if the police had acted more quickly
School district police remain under investigation for their handling of the shooting
During a bombing attack following the shooting, Texas Department of Public Safety Superintendent Steven McCraw slapped Chief Pete Arredondo for failing to attack Ramos
“Just be quiet so he doesn’t come back here,” Khloie said, she replied.
She said one of her other classmates asked for help getting Ms Garcia’s body from her.
The 10-year-old’s call came 37 minutes after Ramos entered campus and a full 40 minutes before authorities rushed in and shot the gunman dead.
Her 911 call is further evidence that lives could have been saved if the police had acted more quickly.
“I don’t understand why anyone didn’t go in,” Khloie’s mother, Jamie Torres, told The Times.
Torres said while there would have been casualties, the number would have been far fewer than 21.
During a bombing attack following the shooting, Texas Department of Public Safety chief Steven McCraw slammed Chief Pete Arredondo for not attacking Ramos, mistakenly believing the teen had ended his killing spree and was hiding from police.
“From today’s perspective, it was of course not the right decision. It was the wrong decision, period,” McCraw said.
The state security official’s allegation comes as school district police remain under investigation for their handling of the shooting.
McCraw revealed students made 911 calls while locked in the classroom with Ramos while Arredondo and his men waited outside the room for more than an hour.
Eventually, Border Patrol agents who rushed to the scene after hearing the incident on scanners broke down the locked classroom door, with one fatally shooting Ramos.
According to a police officer who spoke anonymously to The New York Times, the agents were puzzled as to why they were told not to enter the school and attack the shooter.
Police officers gather outside Robb Elementary School after the mass shooting
Uvalde School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo was reportedly not having his radio with him when he was spotted in the Robb Elementary School shooting that killed 21 people, including 19 children.
McCraw claimed that by identifying the district chief by title rather than name, Arredondo made a miscalculation by assuming that the active shooter situation had become a barricade event.
Arredondo, 50, becomes the focus of backlash from parents questioning whether their children could have been saved.
Arredondo believed Ramos was barricaded alone in the building and waited over an hour before entering the classrooms – where 19 children and two teachers had been killed.
It continues the theme of the story about attempts by Uvalde School District Police to stop the shooter from moving, including a teacher who was initially falsely accused of leaving a door open that allowed Ramos to get inside. This has since been confirmed by the Texas Department of Public Security, which he entered through an unlocked door.
It was revealed last week that the Uvalde School Police Department ignored several logs of their own active rifleman training drills, which they practiced just two months ago.
Arredondo has spoken to the Texas Rangers, who are conducting interviews on behalf of the state Department of Public Safety’s investigation into the massacre.
The Rangers, the US Department of Justice and the local DA’s office are all investigating.
A minute-by-minute breakdown of how cops waited outside class while kids called 911 after the gunman went through the door held open by a teacher
11:28 am: The gunman collides with a truck and exits the car with AR-15s
He is seen by witnesses at a funeral home next to the school, who tell 911 that they see a man with a gun walking toward the school
11:31 a.m.: The shooter is now hiding between vehicles in the school parking lot and is shooting at the building
11:32 a.m.: School resource officer arriving in squad car after hearing 911 call about truck accident drives past gunman
11:33 am: The shooter enters the school and starts shooting in room 111/room 112. He shoots more than 100 shots
11.35am: Three police officers enter the same open door as the suspect from Uvalde Police. They were later followed by four more, making a total of seven officers on site
Three first officers went straight to the door and got abrasions from him with the door closed. You hang back
11:37 a.m.: Another 16 shots fired by the shooter in the classroom
11:51 a.m.: Police sergeant and USB agents arrive
12:03 p.m.: The officers continue to arrive in the hallway. Up to 19 officers in this hallway at the time
At the same time, a girl from classroom 911 calls and whispers that she is in room 112
The gunner’s abandoned AR-15 next to his pickup truck. He bought the gun two days after his 18th birthday
12:10 p.m .: The same girl calls back and says: “There are several deaths”
12:13 p.m.: Same girl calls again
12:16 p.m.: The same girl calls 911 for the fourth time in 13 minutes, asking for help
12:15 PM BORTAC (SWAT) members arrive with shields
12:16 p.m.: The same unidentified girl calls 911 and says Classroom 112 has “8-9 students living.”
12:19 p.m.: Another child from the classroom calls 911. She hangs up when another student tells her to be quiet
12:21 p.m.: Gunman fires again
12:26 p.m .: One of the girls who previously dialed 911 calls back. She says the shooter just ‘shot at the door’
12:43: This girl’s girl is still on the line. She says ‘please send the police now’
12:50 p.m.: Police finally break down the door with janitor’s keys, killing the gunman
12:51 PM Officers begin moving the children out of the room