Olivia Heilemann
News Editor
On May 24 of this year, a deadly mass shooting occurred at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Recently, the 911 calls made by students, parents and teachers during the horrifying event were released to the public with permission from those who made the calls.
The shooting, which resulted in 21 deaths, was carried out by 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, a local high school student. Ramos had legally purchased two assault rifles just two weeks prior on his 18th birthday.
It was reported that Ramos entered the school through a propped-open door and began shooting before moving into another classroom in which he barricaded himself in. This classroom consisted of most of the victims, and 10-year-old Khloie Torres, who called 911 on her teacher’s phone and remained on the line with a dispatcher for over 17 minutes until officers entered the scene 40 minutes later.
Khloie repeatedly whispered to the dispatcher to send the police to her classroom, highlighting the fear she was experiencing.
“If you hear anyone come in, but they’re not supposed to be there, and they don’t say that they’re police, y’all pretend that you are asleep, okay?” the dispatcher responded.
Around 12 p.m., Khloie was told by the dispatcher to tell her classmates to be quiet for their safety. She also had informed the dispatcher that her teacher, Eva Mireles, was injured and needed immediate medical attention, along with a lot of her classmates as she was in a room full of victims. Eva Mireles was later pronounced dead in an ambulance in the school parking lot.
As agents from the Department of Public Safety (DPS) positioned themselves just outside rooms 111 and 112, miscommunication spread that the last shot was self-inflicted and that the shooter may have already shot himself before the police could engage. However, only a minute later more shots were fired, but the agents were ordered to wait. Ignoring these orders, they shortly entered the classroom and shot down the gunman after ordering him to put down his weapon.
Agents from the DPS then began carrying out victims to get them to the hospital, while paramedics tended to those with more severe injuries. Khloie was also brought to the hospital with her classmates on a school bus. She was able to speak to some of the responders about how she made the 911 call that provided information on the current event.
“I was on the phone with a police officer,” Khloie told an agent.
The Uvalde Shooting is just one of the many school shootings that have happened within the past decade. The Parkland Shooting, being one of the most well-known mass shootings within public schools, drew attention to the subject as Nikolas Cruz opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in early 2018. Last week, Cruz was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Now, with most states holding upcoming elections, gun control is a large argument.
“Abbott should have acted after the first, second, third, fourth, fifth major mass shooting of our fellow Texans, under his watch,” says Judy Hockenbrough on Twitter. “He refused. Instead, he loosened gun restrictions. He should have acted after the heinous tragedy in Uvalde.”
