Two teachers who were shot on the day of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary testified Tuesday.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A teacher who survived the Robb Elementary School mass shooting in a classroom where 11 students were killed returned to the stand today as the trial of former Uvalde CISD officer Adrian Gonzales continues.
On Monday, teacher Arnulfo Reyes told jurors the attack began with a “black shadow” with a gun walking inside. He was shot multiple times and said he prayed it would be over.
Jurors also heard on Monday from Texas Rangers who investigated the scene.
Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. Gonzales faces 29 criminal charges tied to his response. He is the first Texas law enforcement officer charged under the child endangerment or abandonment statute for allegedly failing to act during an active shooter situation.
We’re streaming gavel-to-gavel coverage of the trial on our streaming app.
During today’s testimony, we’ll keep updates on this page. Below are those updates
12:13 p.m.: The court was dismissed until 1:30 p.m.
12:11 p.m.: A woman in the gallery had an outburst after Zavala County Sheriff’s Office deputy Joe Vasquez was dismissed. She was escorted out of the courtroom.
12:10 p.m.: Defense attorneys pointed out that Gonzales entered the building alone and put himself at risk. They said he was one of the officers who was able to “contain” the shooter in the classroom.
Zavala County Sheriff’s Office deputy Joe Vasquez was then dismissed.
12 p.m.: Before passing the witness back to the prosecution, the defense revealed that Gonzales is the one who got the key to get inside the classroom. The attorney said the first officers who went inside took fire and returned fire, killing the shooter.
Once the prosecution got the witness back, they asked Zavala County Sheriff’s Office deputy Joe Vasquez about his training when it comes to active shooter situations. The prosecution focused on the hesitation shown by officers at the scene before breaching the door to get to the shooter. The prosecution then passed the witness back to the defense.
11:40 a.m.: Zavala County Sheriff’s Office deputy Joe Vasquez remained on the stand while defense attorneys went through what happened the day of the shooting. They brought up how officers would breach a locked room with and without a shield, as well as what responding officers were doing before getting into the classroom.
11:20 a.m.: Joe Vasquez, a deputy with the Zavala County Sheriff’s Office, then described the scene inside the classroom. He said he thought he was going to get shot since it was dark in the room. He then encountered the shooter, who was down on the ground face down. He said that once others flooded the classroom, he left to go look for his daughter.
The deputy went to a staging area outside the school. An aide says his daughter was at the civic center, but she explained that she did not see her. He eventually finds his daughter at the civic center.
Vasquez, once he left his daughter with a relative, returned to the school to return his rifle since he fired during the breach.
10:55 a.m.: Joe Vasquez, a deputy with the Zavala County Sheriff’s Office, takes the witness stand and begins describing what he did when he arrived at the scene at Robb Elementary. He had parked near the cafeteria. The deputy says he immediately put on a bulletproof vest and grabbed his AR rifle and proceeded towards the building. He encountered two Border Patrol agents with rifles. He asked some parents where the shooter was. He said they looked a little confused, pointed to the main building. He goes towards the cafeteria where he normally picks up his daughter. He encounters two more officers and moves past them towards the main building. He then linked up with a group of officers in the hallway.
Vasquez asked them if they wanted to make entry, and they said no. They said they were waiting for a negotiator after they were fired upon by the shooter. He also mentioned that they said they were waiting for a tactical team as well.
He then left to make a call, hoping to find out where his daughter was. He tried calling his ex-wife but did not make contact.
The deputy said they eventually breached the door with the master key. He added that he was a part of the breach, which was made up of four to five people.
10:40 a.m.: The trial takes a 15-minute recess for the morning.
10:25 a.m.: Robin said she saw a paraprofessional walking toward the PE pavilion while taking kids to the bathroom. Got to a point on her walk, turned around and ran back towards Robin. Paraprofessional looked panicked, said there was a man with a gun…said she heard it on her walkie-talkie. Paraprofessional also said to get inside. Robin said she had kids in the bathroom. The two of them got the students out. Once Robin got into classroom, she said she secured her room. She heard two gunshots.
10:15 a.m.: Robin was asked about the day of the shooting. Her class was one of the first to go to awards ceremony. After ceremony, they went back to classroom until lunchtime.
10:11 a.m.: Robin was asked about the training and the drills for both students and staff. They wait until the all-clear is given during drills. If it’s not a drill, they’re supposed to wait for instructions.
10:05 a.m.: Prosecution calls Erin Robin, who was a second-grade teacher at Robb Elementary at the time of the shooting. Prosecution asked her about the Raptor alerting system. She explained what it was. She was then asked what a lockdown is. She answered it’s to turn the lights off and lock door, and get out of sight.
10:03 a.m.: Defense finishes questioning witness, witness excused.
9:58 a.m.: Avila said her door was always locked, even without a lockdown. She said it was policy for security. Doors can be opened from the inside, but not from the outside. Typically, child closest to door was assigned to open door for other students on the outside.
9:53 a.m.: Defense said no one got notification on the Raptor system. Avila said she doesn’t recall it going off. She said it was fairly new at the school. Defense also brought up ‘bailouts,’ which he said are when people who are in the country illegally are running from authorities. There were school lockdowns when the bailouts happened. Avila said the bailouts happened somewhat often. When asked Avila explained the difference between ‘lockdown’ and ‘secure-in-place.’ Lockdown more urgent, hiding lights off, etc. Secure-in-place is just locking the doors and keep teaching. Critical part of both is to make sure doors are locked.
9:51 a.m.: Prosecution passes the witness.
9:50 a.m.: Avila knew she was going into shock. Avila started to cry on the stand during her testimony, saying her fear was that she would die in front of them. She said she retired after that day, and went through therapy, but recently returned to teaching.
9:45 a.m.: Avila said after a while, officers busted out windows to save them. Some ran to the window right away. Some stayed with her. Avila said she stood up and helped kids get out of the window. She said she was the last person out of the classroom. Two officers helped her out the window.
9:40 a.m.: While Avila was standing up directing kids, she remembered being shot. She put her hand on her side and saw blood. She said she fell to the floor and she remembers the shots continued. She was looking for her phone and glasses so she could text somebody. She was able to text her principal, counselor, and other teachers. Kids were staying quiet, helping each other stay quiet, consoling her, she said.
9:32 a.m.: Avila said on day of shooting, she was in room 109, which adjoined to room 110. After awards ceremony that day, she said she got back with all but one student at 10:35 a.m. That one student went home. Others stayed for fun activities. Was planning to take the students outside at 11:30 a.m. Everyone lined up at the door. While everyone was lined up, one of the students said something was going on, saw another teacher’s students running. Avila went to the door and looked outside; heard a voice yelling to get into their rooms. Avila turned lights off and told the kids, ‘Let’s go, let’s go.’
9:30 a.m.: During training, Avial said they were not to answer the door to anyone
9:25 a.m.: Prosecutor asks about Raptor systems, which is an alert system — an app on phone. Avial said she had training on it. Said two officers did the training. One of the officers who did the training was husband to Eva Mireles — one of the teachers killed in room 112.
9:30 a.m.: Elsa Avila, who works at Sacred Heart Catholic School in Uvalde, is called by prosecution. She worked for Uvalde CISD for 26 years. She was a fourth-grade teacher at Robb Elementary in May 2022. It was her eighth year there.
9:25 a.m.: Reyes excused, new witness called.
9:20 a.m.: Prosecutor said to Reyes the kids went where they were trained to go. Reyes agreed. He also asked Reyes if the magnets had anything to do with the gunman entering his room. Reyes said no. Reyes said he didn’t have a weapon, body armor, or any of the training officers had.
9:18 a.m.: Defense said external doors in fourth grade building were not locked. Reyes agreed. Internal doors — door leading to room 111 — were also not locked, Reyes also agreed.
9:15 a.m.: Defense focusing on door locks and magnets. Defense said substitute teachers weren’t given keys, so the doors were often unlocked. Reyes agreed.
9:06 a.m.: Teacher Arnulfo Reyes returned to the witness stand. The defense is questioning him about how he testified to the grand jury compared to how he testified on Monday. The defense said Reyes testified Monday that he didn’t know what the sound was during the shooting. The defense said in his earlier grand jury testimony that Reyes assumed it was gunfire. Defense then read his grand jury testimony in court.
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