The gunman who killed 19 students and two teachers at a Texas elementary school on Tuesday entered a fourth-grade classroom and announced, "It's time to die!" according to a young survivor.
A Robb Elementary School fourth-grader told KENS 5 that he and four classmates took cover under a cloth-covered table when Salvador Ramos stormed in after blasting another door.
"When I heard the shooting through the door, I told my friend to hide under something so he won't find us," the boy told KENS 5. "I was hiding hard. And I was telling my friend to not talk because he is going to hear us.
"He came in, and he crouched a little bit, and he said, 'It's time to die!'"
Ramos, 18, used an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle to kill his victims. He barricaded himself inside a classroom before opening fire on students and teachers inside.
A law enforcement official said it was "within 40 minutes or so" from when Ramos opened fire on a school security officer immediately before entering the building and when the SWAT-like Border Patrol team shot him.
"When the cops came, the cop said, 'Yell if you need help!' And one of the persons in my class said, 'Help!'" the boy told KENS 5. "The guy [Ramos] overheard, and he came in and shot her.
"The cop barged into that classroom. The guy shot at the cop. And the cops started shooting."
The boy said that once the shooting stopped, he came out from under the table.
"I just opened the curtain. And I just put my hand out," he told KENS 5. "I got out with my friend. I knew it was police. I saw the armor and the shield."
The youngster credited murdered teachers Irma Garcia and Eva Mireles for trying to help the students.
"They were nice teachers. They went in front of my classmates to help. To save them," the boy said. "I would like to say to every kid and parent to be safe."
The boy told KENS 5 that talking to his family and a counselor about the massacre had helped him cope with the trauma.
Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, said the gunman warned on social media minutes before the attack that he had shot his grandmother and was going to shoot up a school.
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