‘Act like you are asleep’: Teacher shot by Uvalde gunman recalls moment he saw gunman

A fourth-grade teacher at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, told the children in his class to get under a desk and “act like you are asleep,” moments before a gunman burst into his room and began shooting.

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Arnulfo Reyes told “Good Morning America,” he was showing his class a movie when he first heard gunshots in the school as an 18-year-old entered the building and started firing a weapon.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but let’s go ahead and get under the table. Get under the table and act like you’re asleep,” Reyes said he told the children when they asked what was happening.

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Reyes said that moments after he told the children to get down, he turned and saw the gunman in his room.

The shooter began firing and Reyes was struck twice – once in the back and once in the arm. The bullet that hit his arm tore into his chest and hit his lung.

Reyes said that once he was on the ground unable to move, the gunman opened fire on the children.

Reyes said he believes police officers were outside his door soon after he was shot but that they moved back down the hallway.

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“One of the students from the next-door classroom was saying, ‘Officer, we’re in here. We’re in here,’” Reyes remembered. “But they had already left.”

Reyes said he did not hear the police until later when they apparently tried to negotiate with the shooter who had gone back and forth between two classrooms shooting teachers and children.

Nineteen students and two teachers were killed in the attack. According to the “Good Morning America” report, no child in Reyes’ classroom survived the shooting.

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