Uvalde teacher who survived class shooting testifies he saw 'black
shadow with a gun'
[January 13, 2026]
By JIM VERTUNO
A teacher who survived the 2022 shooting inside a Robb Elementary school
classroom in Uvalde, Texas, told a jury Monday the attack began with a
“black shadow” with a gun walking inside and that he prayed for the
attack to be over after being shot along with his students.
Arnulfo Reyes' testimony came on the fifth day of the trial for Adrian
Gonzales, a former Uvalde schools police officer who was among the first
law enforcement responders to the scene. Gonzales has pleaded not guilty
to 29 counts of child abandonment or endangerment as prosecutors allege
he did nothing to stop the gunman in the first moments of the attack.
The gunman killed 19 students and two teachers. Reyes was shot on the
arm and back and said he was taunted by 18-year-old gunman Salvador
Ramos.
“I looked at my door and that’s when I saw him ... a black shadow. The
black shadow was holding a gun. I just saw the fire come out of the
gun," Reyes testified. “He shot at me and hit me in my arm. That’s when
I fell to the ground.”
“When I fell, he came around and he shot the kids,” he said.
Reyes said Ramos turned back around and shot him in the back. He prayed
“and I gave myself to the Lord ... and waited for everything to be
over.”
Reyes said the gunman at one point walked into the adjoining classroom,
where he said he heard a student say, “Officer, we’re in here,” before
he heard more shooting.
Reyes said Ramos also taunted him while he tried to pretend he was dead.
Reyes was a teacher in Room 111. None of the children in his classroom
survived.
Just before Reyes testified, the court watched the surveillance video of
Ramos entering the school and start shooting. The judge had warned the
courtroom the images and sounds would be graphic.
Gonzales showed no emotion on his face as emergency calls to police and
a woman can be heard screaming “get in your room!” He appeared to flinch
when the first loud shots rang out in the hallway. He also covered his
mouth with his left hand.
Gonzales was among the first of more than 370 federal, state and local
officers to arrive at the school. It would take more than an hour for a
tactical team to go into a classroom and kill the gunman.
The trial in Corpus Christi, Texas, is tightly focused on Gonzales’
actions. Prosecutors allege he abandoned his active shooter training and
did not try to engage or distract the gunman while he was still outside
the school. They said Gonzales failed again minutes later when a group
of officers went inside the school only to retreat when they came under
heavy gunfire.
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Crosses with the names of shooting victims are placed outside Robb
Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, May 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Jae C.
Hong, File)
While much of the trial has been focused on events outside the
school when the attack started, prosecutors are using the carnage
inside the classroom as the ultimate result of what they said was
Gonzales’ failure to stop the gunman when he had a chance.
At one point, prosecutors showed the school portraits of each of the
schoolchildren and asked Reyes to read their names and say whether
they died or survived.
Reyes was not asked about Gonzales during questioning by
prosecutors, and mentioned only encountering a Border Patrol officer
when the shooting stopped.
At the start of their cross-examination, defense attorneys noted the
doors to the outside of the school, as well as Reyes' classroom,
were unlocked in violation of school policy. Reyes said he'd
believed his classroom door was locked.
Reyes' testimony will continue Tuesday.
The opening days of the trial included dramatic replays of the
initial emergency calls, testimony from teachers who huddled with
terrified students, and the mother of one of the victims recounting
how her daughter had asked to leave school early that day.
Jurors have also seen graphic photos from inside the school and
classrooms. Prosecutors noted how students made 911 calls from
inside the classroom with the gunman.
The trial is a rare case in which a police officer could be
convicted of allegedly failing to act to stop a crime and protect
lives.
Gonzales and former Uvalde schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo are
the only two responding officers that day to face charges.
Arredondo’s trial has not yet been set.
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