Teacher Arnulfo Reyes described what it was like waiting for police help as a gunman killed 21, including 11 of Reyes’ students, two weeks ago at an Uvalde, Texas elementary school.
Reyes, who gave an interview to ABC News, said he was preparing to show a movie in his classroom when gunfire erupted. He then instructed his students to take cover. He then told his students to act asleep as they were being shot for a second time.
"I don't know what's going on, but let's go ahead and get under the table," Reyes said he told the students. "Get under the table and act like you're asleep."
The gunman shot Reyes twice. He said he had to use his own advice to survive the massacre.
"And that was the second time he got me," Reyes told ABC. "Just to make sure that I was dead."
Reyes said he could hear officers outside his classroom, but they walked away.
"One of the students from the next-door classroom was saying, 'Officer, we're in here. We're in here,'" Reyes said. "But they had already left."
Texas Department of Public Safety officials have blamed the school’s police department for leading the botched response to the massacre. It took more than an hour for officers to confront the gunman.
"They're cowards," Reyes told ABC. "They sit there and did nothing for our community. They took a long time to go in… I will never forgive them."
The Department of Justice is investigating law enforcement’s handling of the mass shooting.