Uvalde Teacher Welcomed Home by Community After Month-Long Hospital Stay
Over one month after the Robb Elementary massacre put school teacher Arnulfo Reyes in the hospital, the survivor has been released and sent home.
He was greeted by the entire town of Uvalde, who lined up in their cars to offer him gifts and comfort as he adjusts to life after the shooting.
According to My San Antonio, Reyes endured almost a dozen surgeries during his hospital stay at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.
Although he was released in late June, the video of him being greeted by the residents of Uvalde was released on Reddit earlier this week and has been making its rounds across the internet.
The video, which runs two minutes and 20 seconds, sees a number of people get out of their cars to hug Reyes and give him gifts.
The teacher can be seen breaking down in tears throughout the video, but there’s an especially emotional moment toward the end where Reyes hugs Sandra Torres, the mother of 10-year-old victim Eliahna A. Torres, who was killed during the shooting, according to a tweet posted under the video.
While he was still hospitalized, Reyes called out Uvalde PD as “cowards” for not immediately engaging the shooter when they arrived on the scene just three minutes after shots were fired inside classrooms 111 and 112.
Although Reyes survived, his entire class of 11 students was killed during the massacre.
Among the survivors was 10-year-old Noah Orona, who was shot in the back but ultimately survived.
His mother, Jessica Orona, has revealed some of the horrors Noah witnessed while he waited nearly 80 minutes for officers to engage shooter Salvador Ramos.
Per CNN, “One of the little girls that he was lying by, all he could hear was her gurgling because she was trying to breathe, but she couldn’t because she was shot and you could just hear her choking.”
A recent video released by the Austin American-Statesman documenting each of the 77 minutes that officers stood outside classrooms 111 and 112 was prefaced by an editor’s note that read: “The sound of children screaming has been removed.”
The statement has been repeated by many outlets and those following developments in Uvalde as an example of officers’ indifference or inability to engage in the face of a crisis.
According to another article in My San Antonio, an investigation led by the Texas House culminated in a 77-page report (one page for each minute) documenting what they’ve labeled as the “systemic failures” relating to law enforcement’s delayed response to the shooting.
Former Uvalde schools police Chief Pete Arredondo, who is currently on administrative leave, maintains that he was not in charge of the response.
