A teacher who survived the horrific elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, last month has hit out at the police for not acting sooner.
Arnulfo Reyes, a teacher at Robb Elementary School, watched as all 11 of his third and fourth-grade students were slaughtered by an 18-year-old gunman.
Now, in an interview with ABC News, the teacher has given a harrowing account of the attack and criticized local authorities for taking so long to respond.
Speaking to ABC News anchor Amy Robach, Reyes recalled how around 11:30AM on May 24, 2022, he heard a gunshot from his classroom. Unsure what was going on, he told the 11 students in the room to huddle under the desk and pretend they were sleeping.
Not long after, the gunman entered the room and opened fire. He killed all 11 of Reyes' students and a further seven in the adjacent classroom. Two other teachers were also killed, while Reyes himself sustained multiple gunshot wounds.
"I feel so bad for the parents because they lost a child," Reyes told Robach from a San Antonio hospital, where he is still recovering from his injuries.
"But they lost one child. I lost 11 that day, all at one time," he added.
The teacher went on to slam local police, calling them "cowards" for waiting so long before entering the school and taking out the gunman.
"After everything, I get more angry because you have a bulletproof vest. I had nothing. You're supposed to protect and serve," he said, adding: "There is no excuse for their actions and I will never forgive them."
Reyes concluded his interview by saying that - despite training - there was nothing he could have done to prevent the massacre. He called for stricter gun laws and said that he plans to make it his mission to prevent future shootings.
"The only thing that I know is that I won't let these children and my co-workers die in vain," he said. "I will go to the end of the world to make sure things get changed. If that's what I have to do for the rest of my life, I will do it."
Per Sky News, police waited 77 minutes before breaching the classroom the shooter had barricaded himself inside.
At a press conference after the attack, Tulsa DPS Steve McGraw said that police delayed entering the classroom because they believe there was "no longer an active shooter situation."
"Obviously there were children in that classroom that were at risk, and it was, in fact, still an active shooter situation," he told reporters, adding: "From the benefit of hindsight, of course, it was not the right decision, it was the wrong decision."