With hisJurassic World: Dominion alter-ego Owen Grady tackling dinosaur detail in theaters this weekend, Chris Pratt is back at home on diaper duty.
The star and his wife Katherine Schwarzenegger welcomed their second daughter, Eloise in May.
To E! News, Pratt joked that while the baby’s diapers “smell worse” than the “dino droppings” his raptor-wrangling character has to deal with, the output is comparatively “much smaller,” and thus “much more manageable.”
Pratt, who married Schwarzenegger in 2019, added of his new wife, “Katherine just has the most amazing maternal instincts. She just really knows what to do. I’ll follow her lead.”
The pair’s first daughter, Lyla Maria, was born in 2020.
Pratt also shares 9-year-old son Jack with ex-wife Anna Faris.
(LONDON) — Some of the gunmen who attacked a church full of worshippers in southwestern Nigeria on Sunday were disguised as congregants, police said.
Dozens of people, including women and children, were killed in the late-morning attack at St. Francis Catholic Church in the town of Owo in Ondo state, more than 200 miles northwest of Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, and over 200 miles southwest of Abuja, the Nigerian capital. The church was holding a service for Pentecost Sunday, a Christian holiday celebrated on the 50th day after Easter, when suddenly explosives detonated and gunshots rang out at around 11:30 a.m. local time, according to Olumuyiwa Adejobi, a spokesperson for the Nigeria Police Force’s headquarters in Abuja.
“Further investigations revealed that some of the gunmen disguised as congregants, while other armed men who had positioned themselves around the church premises from different directions fired into the church,” Adejobi said in a statement on Monday night.
An unknown number of gunmen had approached the church during the service and began shooting at worshippers as they tried to flee, according to Funmilayo Ibukun Odunlami, a spokesperson for the Nigeria Police Force’s command in Ondo state, adding that several gunmen were firing from inside the building.
A motive for the massacre was not immediately clear, as no group has claimed responsibility. Police have yet to identify the perpetrators or release the number of casualties.
“Some lives were lost and some sustained varying degrees of injuries,” Odunlami said in a statement on Sunday evening, later telling ABC News that police do not yet have an estimate.
Health workers at the Federal Medical Center in Owo told ABC News on Monday that at least 35 bodies had been transported to the hospital from the scene of Sunday’s attack. They said there was also an urgent need for blood donations for the wounded.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Laity Council of Nigeria said in a statement on Monday that “more than 50 parishioners” had died and the gunmen were “suspected to be bandits.”
The suspects fled the scene in a stolen Nissan and remain at large. The vehicle has since been recovered by police, according to Adejobi.
Police have also recovered three undetonated improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from the scene, along with fragments of detonated IEDs and pellets of expended AK-47 ammunition, Adejobi said.
Nigerian Inspector-General of Police Usman Alkali Baba has ordered a “full-scale” and “comprehensive” investigation into the incident and has deployed specialized police units to help track down the assailants, according to Adejobi.
“He equally assures that the heartless killers of the harmless victims, particularly innocent children, would be made to face the full wrath of the law,” Adejobi said.
To promote their new album, Proof, BTS is asking their devoted fans, aka ARMY, to tell them their favorite memories of the group over the years.
In a letter to fans, the group writes, “For nine years, you have been our greatest champions. As we embark on the journey to our 10th years as a band, we want to remember and celebrate all the special moments we’ve had together so far.”
Starting on Saturday, the group is asking fans to share their stories on YouTube Shorts, with the hashtag #MyBTStory. Those who participate will get the chance to have their story included in an ARMY tribute video.
Meanwhile, BTS will premiere the official music video for “Yet to Come (The Most Beautiful Moment),” the first single from Proof, on Friday at midnight, which is also when the album arrives.
(WASHINGTON) — After extremists praised last month’s school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and called for at least one copycat attack, the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday warned of a “heightened” threat environment.
Law enforcement uses the term “domestic violent extremist” to label those from a broad swath of the ideological spectrum from racially motivated extremists to white supremacists.
The bulletin, which is the sixth bulletin DHS has issued since the beginning of the Biden administration, said domestic violent extremists are propagating disinformation.
“Others have seized on the event to attempt to spread disinformation and incite grievances, including claims it was a government-staged event meant to advance gun control measures,” the bulletin said, referring to the Uvalde school shooting.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called the threat environment “heightened.”
“As recent acts of violence in communities across the country have so tragically demonstrated, the nation remains in a heightened threat environment, and we expect that environment will become more dynamic in the coming months,” Mayorkas said.
Public gatherings, faith-based institutions, racial and religious minorities, government facilities and critical infrastructure may be targets of domestic violent extremists, a DHS official told reporters on a conference call.
“We do expect that the threat environment is likely to become more dynamic as several high-profile events could be exploited to justify acts of violence against a range of possible targets,” the official said.
The official said DHS is seeing threats from the “ideological spectrum” of actors, but did not offer more specifics.
Officials also said they are concerned about the midterm elections, because some could still be holding onto grievances from the 2020 presidential election. Officials say they are also concerned about possible fallout from an expected Supreme Court decision that could overturn Roe v. Wade, as ABC News has previously reported.
“Given a high-profile U.S. Supreme Court case about abortion rights, individuals who advocate both for and against abortion have, on public forums, encouraged violence, including against government, religious, and reproductive healthcare personnel and facilities, as well as those with opposing ideologies,” DHS officials wrote.
The bulletin said issues along the southern border could also present a trigger point for extremists.
“Some domestic violent extremists have expressed grievances related to their perception that the U.S. government is unwilling or unable to secure the U.S.-Mexico border and have called for violence to stem the flow of undocumented migrants to the United States,” the bulletin said. “We assess that there is increased risk of domestic violent extremists using changes in border security-related policies and/or enforcement mechanisms to justify violence against individuals, such as minorities and law enforcement officials involved in the enforcement of border security.”
The Department also hasn’t taken their eye off of foreign terrorists.
“Foreign terrorist organizations will likely continue to use online platforms to attempt to inspire U.S.-based individuals to engage in violent activity,” it said.
John Cohen, the former acting undersecretary for Intelligence and Analysis at DHS, told ABC News this isn’t new.
“This bulletin reinforces what DHS and FBI have been telling the American people over the past year and a half,” Cohen, who is now an ABC News contributor, said.
He added, “The Nation faces a terrorism threat environment that is volatile, complex and dangerous. Lone offenders continue to engage in targeted acts of violence inspired by extremist or other content posted online. The tempo of these attacks are increasing. And these ideologically motivated attacks are occurring at the same time that localities across the nation are experiencing increased levels of violent crime. These are incredible challenging times for law enforcement and communities across the Nation.”
Dave Chappelle reportedly booked an unexpected weekend show in Buffalo and then surprised the audience by announcing he would be donating all the proceeds from the event to the families of victims of the recent mass shooting there.
“He said, and I’m paraphrasing, I came here to Buffalo to recognize the victims and for these families,” director of marketing and communications for Shea’s Performing Arts Center, Kevin Sweeney, recalled the comedian saying during Sunday’s last-minute show, according to Deadline.
Ten people were killed and three others were injured in a mass shooting at a supermarket in New York’s second-largest city on May 14. A white 18-year-old man targeted the predominately-Black neighborhood in what police called “racially motivated violent extremism.” The alleged shooter has been charged with 25 related crimes, including murder and attempted murder.
(WASHINGTON) — White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who took over as the President Joe Biden’s chief spokesperson just over three weeks ago, told ABC’s Good Morning America on Tuesday that Biden is “very encouraged” by gun safety negotiations in Congress as lawmakers urgently try to reach a deal in principle this week in the wake of recent shootings.
“This is a priority for and this is a very serious issue for this president, but right now, we’re watching what Congress is doing, because we can’t do this alone, he cannot do this alone, and we’re very encouraged,” Jean-Pierre told GMA Anchor Robin Roberts, who pressed her on whether Biden was personally lobbying senators after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas in which 19 children and two teachers were killed.
“So, I’ll say this, the president has been very clear,” Jean-Pierre continued. “He made his speech on Thursday. He spoke directly to the American public to continue to lay out the importance of dealing with gun violence, how this is destroying schools clearly and communities and how we have to act now and we cannot wait any longer.”
“But he wants to give the Senate and Congress on the Hill some space to have the conversation,” she added. “It sounds very promising. We are encouraged by it.”
Jean-Pierre said the White House Office of Legislative Affairs has had direct communication with the negotiators “dozens of times.”
“So, that is that is how we have been really dealing with this — making sure that we can do whatever it is that we can do on our end and getting updates from them as well,” she added.
The exclusive interview comes as Biden has called for lawmakers to act on gun safety legislation, but as Senate negotiators are considering a package much more narrow than what he asked for.
Biden called for an assault weapons ban, and if not, he said, then to raise the age to buy assault weapons from 18 to 21. Instead, lawmakers are considering measures like expanded background checks, incentives for states and localities to institute red flag laws, and increased funding for school security and mental health programs.
Throughout negotiations, Jean-Pierre has been on the defensive on Biden’s involvement as some have questioned whether the president should be taking a larger role in talks. She has argued Biden has been involved for decades and is giving senators “a little space” to work.
At Monday’s press briefing, Jean-Pierre indicated that even if the senators ultimately propose a package that falls far short of the wish list Biden outlined in prime-time remarks last week, incremental changes would be acceptable to Biden. When reporters pressed her on the president’s lack of personal involvement in the talks, she confirmed Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy’s assertion that he has spoken with the White House every single day since the negotiations began — but that can be on the staff level, not directly with Biden.
Jean-Pierre made history when she took over from Jen Psaki on May 13, becoming the first Black woman and first openly gay person to hold the position of White House press secretary.
When Jean-Pierre anchored her first White House briefing last year, as she was filling in for Psaki, ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Mary Bruce asked her about making history at the podium.
“It’s a real honor to be standing here today,” Jean-Pierre said. “I appreciate the historic nature, I really do, but I believe that being behind this podium, being in this room, being in this building, is not about one person. It’s about what we do on behalf of the American people.”
Previously, Jean-Pierre was principal deputy White House press secretary, and during the 2020 presidential campaign, she was then-candidate Kamala Harris’ chief of staff. She also served in the Obama White House as the regional director in the Office of Political Affairs for the northeast. Before joining the Biden campaign, she was a senior executive at MoveOn.org and an MSNBC analyst.
Jean-Pierre was born in Fort-de-France, Martinique, to Haitian parents, who later moved briefly to France and then immigrated to the U.S. and settled in Queens when she was 5. They later moved to Hempstead, Long Island, where her father worked as a cab driver, and her mother as a home health care aide. Though Jean-Pierre wasn’t born in Haiti, she calls herself a “proud Haitian-American.”
Variety reports Borat Subsequent Moviefilm breakout star Maria Bakalova has joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a “key role” in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Bakalova’s role, like most details pertaining the film, is being kept secret. Filming recently wrapped up on the third chapter, which will star Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Sylvester Stallone, Karen Gillan, Elizabeth Debicki, Will Poulter, Chuk Iwuji and Daniela Melchior. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 debuts May 5, 2023, from Marvel Studios, which is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News…
Netflix dropped a new teaser for highly anticipated adaptation of the popular Neil Gaiman comic book series The Sandman, and also announced the release date: August 5. The streaming service describes the series as “a rich blend of modern myth and dark fantasy in which contemporary fiction, historical drama and legend are seamlessly interwoven, The Sandman follows the people and places affected by Morpheus, the dream king, played by Tom Sturridge, as he mends the cosmic — and human — mistakes he’s made during his vast existence.” The cast also includes Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer, the ruler of Hell, joining Vivienne Acheampong, Boyd Holbrook, Charles Dance, Asim Chaudhry and Sanjeev Bhaskar…
Ted Lasso‘s Juno Temple, Mad Men‘s Jon Hamm and Atypical‘s Jennifer Jason Leigh have been tapped as leads in the upcoming fifth installment of the FX limited series Fargo, according to Deadline. Temple, Hamm and Leigh will play the central characters of Dot, Roy and Lorraine, respectively. Creator and executive producer Noah Hawley is keeping the plot of the new season under wraps, though, per Deadline, it’s “set in 2019 and answers two questions: When is a kidnapping not a kidnapping, and what if your wife isn’t yours?” Previous seasons of Fargo have been headlined by Billy Bob Thornton, Kirsten Dunst, Ewan McGregor and Chris Rock, among others…
AMC Networks has set August 14 as the premiere date for new episodic anthology series Tales of the Walking Dead. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom actress Daniella Pineda, Brooklyn Nine-Nine alum Terry Crews, Parker Posey, Rough Night‘s Jillian Bell, ER‘s Anthony Edwards and Hacks‘ Poppy Liu star in the Walking Dead spinoff. Each stand-alone episode will focus on both new and established characters within the Walking Dead universe. The premiere will air on AMC and AMC+, with the first two episodes streaming that same night on AMC+. Subsequent episodes will stream one week early, beginning Sunday, August 21…
(NEW YORK) — Ramon Benavides, 2022’s Texas Teacher of the Year, choked up, clutching his infant son as his mind raced with thoughts of the recent mass shootings in his home state.
From the attack at an El Paso Walmart in 2019 to the Uvalde school massacre, the tragedies conjure up unimaginable fears felt not only by parents — but by teachers.
“I can’t even find the words to really explain how I’m feeling,” Benavides said. “I held him [his son] super tight because many parents, teachers involved, you know, they’re, they’re not coming back to their families and their families aren’t aren’t going to be able to embrace their loved ones as I did with my little boy last night. And it’s painful, it’s hurtful, and like I said, it’s just so many emotions just going on.”
The El Paso educator said he is devastated by the killing of 19 children and two of their teachers at Robb Elementary School. The shocking news struck his “soul,” he said, and he is having trouble making sense of it.
“I’ve lived across Texas, so this is something that just hits us all,” he told ABC News. “It kind of leaves you breathless, it’s like a punch to the gut.”
Teachers’ mental health
Having to deal with school shootings is just one of the factors taking a toll on teachers’ mental health.
Educators cite a range of emotions, including anxiety and sadness during a pandemic — now in its third year — as reasons more than half of them plan to leave their chosen profession, according to a survey from the National Education Association. While burnout is a primary cause teachers want out of the classroom, now some are haunted by fears that they, their families and their students now won’t be safe — even at school.
In the almost 10 years since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, there have been more than 900 school shootings, according to the gun violence prevention organization Sandy Hook Promise and the Center for Homeland Defense and Security. The attack in Uvalde is the latest in a long series of acts of gun violence terrorizing students and teachers alike. Last year, there were 42 acts of campus gun violence at K-12 schools in the U.S.
“Mental health in this country is already bad with the pandemic,” Lee Perez, Nebraska’s 2022 Teacher of the Year, told ABC News. The Uvalde shooting, he said, “is only going to make it worse.”
He knows how the pressures can push teachers to their limits. Perez dealt with anxiety and depression due to stress from the pandemic and how the spread of COVID-19 disproportionately affected marginalized minority communities.
Teachers’ job-related stress levels and symptoms of depression were higher than most employed adults, according to Rand Corporation’s 2021 State of the U.S. Teacher Survey. A recent poll of over 3,000 National Education Association (NEA) members emphasized over 90% of educators believe stress is a serious issue.
Dr. Christine Crawford, associate medical director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said that exposure to horrific events like the Uvalde shooting “can elicit symptoms that are consistent with a trauma response, almost.”
She explained that after hearing or reading about events like a mass shooting, people may notice they are more on edge or irritable and may experience other symptoms such as difficulty sleeping or concentrating. These symptoms, Crawford said, may present after repeated exposure to similar events, even if someone didn’t experience the trauma firsthand.
“We do know that there is this phenomenon known as vicarious trauma,” Crawford explained. “So, just hearing about a traumatic event, you can almost imagine yourself in that sort of scenario and that can further kind of exacerbate some of the symptoms that I just described.”
It highlights, she said, that even in a small community, “you don’t fully know each and every person and what it is that they’re capable of. And so this kind of sense of safety within the community can certainly be threatened.”
Benavides says he’s taking it “day-by-day.” But Perez, his state’s first Latinx and English as a Second Language (ESL) recipient of the top teacher honor, said the shooting in Uvalde also hit close to home.
“These beautiful brown babies [were] just murdered in cold blood,” he said, adding, “it puts people of color … puts us on pins and needles.”
Perez had his first child at the beginning of this month. He tearfully discussed “strategizing” to protect his baby girl, Natalia, if Congress doesn’t pass universal background checks or mental health red flag laws.
“It really adds to that anxiety that has been brought on by all the stuff that’s happened two years ago,” Perez said. “As educators, we always tell families, communities and our students, ‘you are safe at school,’ but then this happens, and then the question becomes, well, ‘are students safe at school? Is anybody safe at school?'”
‘It scares you,’ one teacher said
Teachers have faced mental health struggles throughout the pandemic that initially shuttered schools and has upended education over the last two years. Their fears of contracting a deadly virus, combating a nationwide staffing and substitute shortage and increasing demands on their time have made a tough profession — even harder.
“Teachers are doing amazing work, and they are providing work during a very challenging time. They already had to provide support – to teach kids during a pandemic, and then to have these events happen, can be further traumatizing for some of our teachers,” Crawford said. “And so we certainly do need to have compassion for these teachers, empathy for these teachers, because they really have been faced with a tremendous amount of stress and trauma over the last few years.”
Experts have been monitoring the effects of the pandemic on the mental health of Americans over the last two years. Since April 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been documenting self-reported symptoms of anxiety and depression, using Household Pulse Surveys. These metrics, compared with similar data collected in 2019, show a dramatic increase in symptoms.
Colorado’s Autumn Rivera was a 2022 finalist for the national teacher of the year award who says she considered seeking mental health counseling at her school after the Uvalde shooting. With the school year ending, Rivera is taking time to process her feelings because she can’t accept the fact that many of those slain were Latinx.
“Those are my students,” Rivera said, comparing the population she teaches to the students at Robb Elementary. “That is me and those two teachers, you know, very similar backgrounds, very similar situations, and it just broke my heart.”
For now, Perez struggles with the notion of when this might happen again, advocating for Congress to enact sweeping gun reform that could prevent future attacks on schools. Ultimately, he hopes his daughter has a safer future than today’s students who do lockdown and active shooting drills.
“It scares you,” he said. “Where is it safe? The fact that you have to ask that question scares, not just teachers, but everybody.”
The National Alliance on Mental Illness HelpLine offers resources and support to people experiencing mental health struggles. The HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or helpline@nami.org. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available toll-free, 24/7, to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress at 1-800-273-8255.
(WASHINGTON) — The son of the oldest victim in the Buffalo, New York supermarket shooting is expected to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday in a hearing on domestic terrorism in the wake of the apparent racially-motivated attack that left 10 Black people dead, including his 86-year-old mother, and a national reckoning over gun violence as lawmakers consider gun safety legislation this week.
The hearing, which kicks off at 10 a.m., is titled, “Examining the ‘Metastasizing’ Domestic Terrorism Threat After the Buffalo Attack” and will examine “the continued threat posed by violent white supremacists and other extremists, including those who have embraced the so-called ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy theory, as well as the federal government’s response to this threat,” according to a committee release.
Lawmakers on the, at times, divisive committee will hear from Garnell Whitfield Jr., the son of Ruth Whitfield, the oldest victim in the Buffalo shooting, who was mourned by her family in an emotional press conference last month. Whitfield was returning home from visiting her husband in a nursing home, what her son called “a daily ritual” for eight years of their 68-year marriage, when she stopped by the Tops grocery store to pick up groceries, and the gunman opened fire.
“For her to be taken from us and taken from this world by someone that’s just full of hate for no reason … it is very hard for us to handle right now,” Garnell said at the time.
“We need help. We’re asking you to help us, help us change this. This can’t keep happening,” he added.
At the same press conference, civil rights attorney Ben Crump slammed what he called the “accomplices to this mass murder” and the cause of the indoctrination of hate among young people, referring, in part, to far-right-wing websites, politicians and cable news pundits.
“Even though they didn’t pull the trigger, they did load the gun for this young white supremacist,” Crump said. “Black America is suffering right now and we need to know that our top leader in America reacts and responds when we are hurt.”
Other witnesses on Tuesday’s panel include Michael German, a former Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent and fellow at the Brennan Center For Justice; Robert Pape, professor and director of The Chicago Project on Security and Threats at The University of Chicago; Justin Herdman, a former U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Ohio, and legal scholar Jonathan Turley, a professor at the George Washington University Law School and a frequent witness called by Republicans on the committee.
ABC News previously reported on evidence indicating the Buffalo shooting was a calculated, racially-motivated execution by the suspect, an 18-year-old white male, according to multiple sources and a review of FBI cases and testimony. The gunman, who has pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder and is being held without bail, allegedly wanted a race war and live-streamed his attack in an apparent effort to spur others to kill minorities, sources said.
Included in a 180-page document posted online by the shooter was a far-right conspiracy idea called the “great replacement theory,” which baselessly claims that white populations are being intentionally replaced by minorities and immigrants. Democrats have slammed the theory and moved to fund new programs to target domestic terrorism, while some Republicans have faced backlash for echoing notions of the theory in their talking points.
The hearing comes as the Democrats on Capitol Hill ramp up efforts to push for legislation that would require stronger background checks for gun buyers and incentivize state red flag laws following the recent mass shootings. Twenty-one people, including 19 children, were killed in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, just 10 days after the mass shooting in Buffalo. Another mass shooting on June 1 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, claimed four lives after a gunman stormed a medical facility with an AR-15-style rifle that police say he bought hours before the massacre.
Zeneta Everhart, who says her 21-year-old son, Zaire Goodman, is still recovering from gunshot wounds in the Buffalo shooting, one of three others injured there, as well as Miah Cerrillo, a fourth-grader who survived the shooting in Uvalde, are both expected to testify at another hearing on gun violence on Wednesday before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
The FBI announced it was investigating the Buffalo mass shooting as a hate crime and case of “racially motivated violent extremism” after Erie County Sheriff John Garcia described the attack as a “straight-up racially motivated hate crime.”
Senate Republicans used the filibuster to block a bill last month designed to combat domestic terrorism from advancing to a key vote. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, D-Ill., was the only Republican in either chamber of Congress to vote for the measure, which would have created new offices within the Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security and FBI to “monitor, analyze, investigate, and prosecute domestic terrorism.”
Tuesday marks the third in a series of hearings this committee has held on domestic terrorism.
(SAN ANTONIO, Texas) — Arnulfo Reyes woke up ready for a good day. His third- and fourth-grade class at Robb Elementary had finished its final tests the week before. Awards were going to be handed out. He planned to show his students a movie, The Addams Family — the animated version.
“It was going to be a good day,” Reyes told ABC News anchor Amy Robach in an exclusive interview. “There was nothing unusual that day, we were just walking back to the classroom … to watch the rest of the movie.”
Around 11:30 a.m., however, the normalcy shattered. Reyes said he heard a bang. Unsure of what it was, he told the students to get under their desks — just like they’d practiced.
“The kids were yelling, ‘What’s going on, Mr. Reyes?'” he said. “[The students] were going under the table, and I was trying to get them to do that as fast as I could.”
“When I turned around,” he said, “I just saw him.”
The next 77 minutes of carnage “destroyed” Reyes, he said, and forever changed a school, a community and perhaps a country. By the end of his rampage, a gunman had killed 19 students — including all 11 in Reyes’ classroom — and two teachers. Reyes himself sustained multiple gunshot wounds.
“I feel so bad for the parents because they lost a child,” Reyes told Robach. “But they lost one child. I lost 11 that day, all at one time.”
From his hospital bed in San Antonio, less than two weeks after surviving the second-most deadly school shooting in U.S. history, Reyes offered the most vivid account yet of what transpired inside classroom 111 of Robb Elementary School on May 24.
He also waded into the nationwide debate over gun violence and slammed local police as “cowards” for failing to act faster. And while Reyes recovers, he’s already plotting his next act: ensuring this never happens again.
“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.”
Inside the classroom
Before the gunman entered his classroom, Reyes said he told his students, “Get under the table and act like you’re asleep.” When he turned, he saw a blur — and then gunfire.
Two shots rang out. Reyes immediately “knew something was wrong,” he said. He couldn’t feel his arm, and he fell to the floor as the gunman fired indiscriminately into the classroom of 10- and 11-year-olds. After a short time, silence fell over the room.
“I prayed that I wouldn’t hear none of my students talk,” he said. “And I didn’t hear talk for a while. But then, later on, he did shoot again. So, if he didn’t get them the first time, he got them the second time.”
Wounded on the ground, Reyes said he followed his own advice and pretended to be unconscious. Reyes said the gunman again fired his weapon.
“And that was the second time he got me,” Reyes said. “Just to make sure that I was dead.”
The second gunshot pierced Reyes’ back and lung.
“I had no concept of time,” Reyes said. “When things go bad, it seems like eternity. The only thing that I can say is I felt like my blood was like an hourglass.”
In the 14 days since the shooting, Reyes said he has undergone five surgeries and twice had his blood replaced.
Unbeknownst to Reyes, parents and onlookers eventually gathered outside of the school, encouraging officers to enter the building. It wasn’t until 12:50 p.m. when a tactical unit finally breached the classroom door and killed the gunman.
“After that it was just bullets everywhere,” he said. “And then I just remember Border Patrol saying, ‘Get up, get out,’ and I couldn’t get up.”
System failure
In the wake of the shooting, law enforcement has come under immense scrutiny for failing to act faster. Seventy-seven minutes passed from the time the gunman entered the school until officers breached the door and killed him.
“They’re cowards,” Reyes said. “They sit there and did nothing for our community. They took a long time to go in… I will never forgive them.”
Law enforcement and state officials have repeatedly corrected themselves and at times provided conflicting details about their response. At one point, a Texas Department of Public Safety official said the on-scene commanding officer made the “wrong decision” to wait to breach the barricaded classrooms.
Robb Elementary School prepared for active shooter events, conducting drills as recently as a few weeks before the mass shooting. But Reyes described failures in protocol at nearly every step of the security process on May 24 — missteps in protocol and execution that he says cost lives.
“There was no announcement. I did not receive any messages on my phone — sometimes we do get a Raptor system,” he said, referring to the school district’s emergency alert program, “but I didn’t get anything, and I didn’t hear anything.”
Reyes also described complaints he said he had made about his door, which is meant to remain shut and locked while class is in session. At prior security checks, Reyes said he noticed that his door would not latch — an issue he said he raised with the school’s principal.
“When that would happen, I would tell my principal, ‘Hey, I’m going to get in trouble again, they’re going to come and tell you that I left my door unlocked, which I didn’t,'” he said. “But the latch was stuck. So, it was just an easy fix.”
Even with the failures in plan implementation, Reyes said the outcome felt inevitable: “No training would ever prepare anybody for this.”
“It all happened too fast. Training, no training, all kinds of training — nothing gets you ready for this,” he said. “We trained our kids to sit under the table and that’s what I thought of at the time. But we set them up to be like ducks.”
The Uvalde Police Department, Texas Department of Public Safety and Robb Elementary School did not respond to requests for comment.
The solution is not more training, according to Reyes, but an overhaul of a system that allows easy access to firearms. Reyes emphasized that he is not against gun ownership, but advocated for common-sense gun legislation that would raise the age limit for would-be gun purchasers.
“If you want to buy a gun, you want to own a gun, that’s fine,” he said. “But the age limit has to change. And I think that they need to do more background checks on it. Things just have to change. It must change.”
