A 10-year-old girl who survived the mass shooting in Uvalde last week says her best friend—one of the 19 children killed at Robb Elementary School—tried to reassure her everything would be OK when the gunman first showed up.
“She was the only big friend I had,” Khloe Torres told local news outlet KENS 5 of her best friend, Amerie Jo Garza. Garza, one of the first children to be shot in the classroom after the teen gunman barricaded himself inside, died calling 911 to get help.
The fourth-grader spent the initial moments of the classroom lockdown trying to comfort others, Torres said.
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“We were told we were going into lockdown. My friend was saying that it was really normal, and don’t be scared. Nothing is going to happen,” she told KENS 5.
After the first gunshots rang out, Torres said she and the other children hid, and she was “looking at the ground because I was scared.”
Then the gunman, identified by police as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, came into the classroom and one of the fourth-grade teachers tried to shield the children. Teachers Irma Garcia and Eva Mireles were both killed as they tried to protect the kids.
“She ran over to us and sat down,” Torres said of one of the teachers. “And started covering my friend. She started saying no, because he said you will die. And he shot my friend with the phone, and he shot my teachers Ms. Garcia and Ms. Mireles.”
Torres recalled turning off Garza’s phone after she was shot, because, she said, “I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt.”
As for her slain classmates, she said, “I would tell them I loved them. And that I am going to miss them.”
Torres’ gut-wrenching account of the massacre comes as the rural Texas town has begun burying the victims, with 11 funerals set to be held this week. Garza, who had just celebrated her 10th birthday on May 10, was laid to rest Tuesday at Hillcrest Memorial Cemetery.
A day earlier, an 11-year-old classmate of Garza’s held vigil at a memorial to her in the town’s square—and paid tribute to the bravery the slain fourth-grader showed both during the deadly siege and before.
According to the Texas Tribune, as the young girl was seen sobbing in front of a cross featuring Amerie’s name, her father, David Treviño, explained why Garza was so special to her.
“She would stick up for her for the bullies to stop picking on her. [My daughter] is taking it really hard. She would protect her from the bullies.”
