Texas school shooting survivor recalls moment her best friend, teachers were shot
A Robb Elementary School student who was inside the classroom where a crazed gunman killed 19 of her classmates described the horrific moment when her best friend and two teachers were shot dead.
Khloe Torres, 10, recalled the unimaginable violence in a Tuesday interview with KENS 5, where she said one of her teachers, Irma Garcia, was shot as she protected fourth-grader Amerie Jo Garza.
“[Ms. Garcia] ran over to us, sat down and started covering my friend,” Khloe told the outlet. “She started saying ‘no!’ because he said ‘you will die’ and he shot my friend with the phone, and he shot my teachers Ms. [Irma] Garcia and Ms. [Eva] Mireles.”
Ramos fatally shot Amerie, 10, as she tried to dial 911 to get help. Garcia and Mireles were also gunned down.
Khloe said she got up to turn her friend’s phone off, afraid it would draw more attention from the shooter.
“I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt,” she said.
When Torres got up, Ramos tried to shoot her too, she said, but she ran and was only struck by shrapnel.
After border patrol agents shot and killed Ramos, a first responder carried Khloe out of the classroom.
Outside the school, a medic spotted Khloe — covered in the blood of her friend — and asked if she was hurt, she said.
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She told him the blood wasn’t her own, but belonged to her best friend who was shot. When he asked who her friend was, Khloe told him it was Amerie and he broke down in tears.
The medic, who spoke to CNN about the incident, turned out to be Amerie’s stepfather.
“I didn’t know it was her stepdad, so he was crying and he tried to go back in there,” Khloe said.
Khloe and her family just moved to Uvalde from Louisiana around the time of spring break, according to KENS 5. She said Amerie was the one best friend she had made in that short time.
“She was really the only big friend I had,” Khloe said.
During the chaos when the shooter entered their classroom, Khloe said she and Amerie got separated.
“It made me really uncomfortable because I didn’t feel safe without her,” the fourth-grader said.
Amerie has been called a hero for her bravely in attempting to call 911 and was posthumously awarded the Bronze Cross by the Girl Scouts of the USA.
Khloe said if her friends were still alive with her, she’d tell them how much they meant to her.
“If they were [still] here with me, I would tell them I love them and that I’m gonna miss them and I don’t want them to go.”
