A nine-year-old survivor of Tuesday's shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, has revealed the horrifying words uttered by the shooter after he stormed a fourth-grade classroom.
Speaking to local news outlet Kens5, an unnamed student at Robb Elementary School recalled how he and his classmates hid under a table covered by a tablecloth as the teenage gunman, Salvador Ramos, began his massacre.
“He shot the next person’s door. We have a door in the middle. He opened it. He came in and he crouched a little bit and he said, he said, ‘It’s time to die,’” the boy shared with the outlet.
“When I heard the shooting through the door, I told my friend to hide under something so he won‘t find us,” he said. “I was hiding hard. And I was telling my friend to not talk because he is going to hear us.”
Law enforcement then arrived on the scene and engaged in a shootout with the assailant.
“When the cops came, the cop said: ‘Yell if you need help!’ And one of the persons in my class said 'help.' The guy overheard and he came in and shot her," the boy said. “The cop barged into that classroom. The guy shot at the cop. And the cops started shooting.”
He then recalled coming out from under the table once the shooting came to an end. “I just opened the curtain. And I just put my hand out,” he said. “I got out with my friend. I knew it was police. I saw the armor and the shield.”
Tuesday's massacre in the town of Uvalde was the deadliest shooting at a school in the US since 20 children and six adults were shot dead at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.
The 18-year-old gunman entered Robb Elementary School at around 11:32 AM. He was armed with a handgun and an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle before "horrifically, incomprehensibly" opening fire, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said.
“My heart is broken today,” said Hal Harrell, the school district superintendent, per The Guardian. “We’re a small community, and we’re going to need your prayers to get through this.”
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