What followed would be “the most horrible thing anyone could have endured,” his lawyer Don Flanary told CNN, as a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers in the deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade.
Marin entered the school to report the accident and had left the door open with a rock, according to Flanary, who is assisting Marin with a possible civil claim against the gun manufacturers used in the killing.
When Marin returned to the door – still in line with 911 operators – she saw her co-worker running away and heard people on the other side of a funeral home shouting, “She has a gun! “
Marin saw the 18-year-old gunman approaching, Flanary said, so she kicked the door shut and ran to a nearby adjoining classroom, piled under a counter.
That’s where Marin heard gunshots, Flanary said, first outdoors, then inside the school.
“Frozen” by fear, Marin received a text message from her daughter asking if she was safe, and she finally had to mute her phone, convinced that the gunman would listen to her, she said. lawyer.
“She thought he would come in and kill her and he made peace with that,” Flanary said.
The gunman pointed to another classroom and never met Marin, his lawyer said. Her grandson, who is a student at Robb Elementary, was also elsewhere and survived. However, Marin’s ordeal soon worsened in the days following the shooting after authorities said the gunman entered the school through a door left open.
“She felt lonely, like she couldn’t even cry,” Flanary said. “She guessed to herself, like‘ didn’t I do it? ’” She added.
The Texas Department of Homeland Security later clarified that the shooter had entered through a door that was open. The whole experience, however, has affected his mental health, Flanary said. He had to see a neurologist because “he can’t stop shaking,” he said. Although Marin has no plans to sue the school, police or the school district, Flanary said, a petition was filed on Thursday to dismiss Daniel Defense, the manufacturer of the firearm used in the attack, according to a court document obtained by CNN.
The pre-lawsuit does not charge the gun manufacturer with any crime, but seeks to investigate whether the petitioner has any basis for filing a claim against Daniel Defense. CNN has contacted Daniel Defense to get his response to the presentation.
The state senator is asking for more answers
Investigators from local, state and federal agencies say they are working to determine more about the circumstances behind the shooting.
Search warrants have been issued for the shooter’s cell phone, vehicle and his grandparents’ home, according to court records obtained by CNN. The order gives investigators the authority to conduct a forensic discharge of the cell phone – which was next to his body – in search of a motive.
However, criticism continues as to whether the authorities responded quickly enough to neutralize the gunman, as well as the lack of transparency of some law enforcement officers after the shooting. According to a timeline published by the Texas DPS, the children made several 911 calls inside the classroom where the gunman was, while police were parked outside the room. A Texas lawmaker raised questions at a news conference Thursday about whether information about 911 calls from inside Robb Elementary was properly transmitted to those who responded to the scene.
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez said he spoke with the 911 State Emergency Communications Agency, and was told that 911 calls were handled and relayed to city police. at the scene. What is unclear, however, is whether this information was passed on to the school district police chief, who was the commander of the incident at the scene.
“I was told by a police officer in Uvalde and the state agency I spoke to didn’t tell me who he was,” Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez also said he wants to know more about what was going on at school that day.
“I want to know where the cops were in that room. I want to know how many of my cops were in there, how many state soldiers were there. I want to know how many state cops were out there. I want to know how many federal officers were in for 19 minutes. I mean, for 45 minutes, “Gutierrez told reporters.
“I want to know specifically who was receiving the 911 calls,” he said.
CNN has contacted the State Emergency Communications Commission, Uvalde Police and the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District to comment on Gutiérrez’s statements.
The judge said he tried to identify the victims
As the community came together to bury the lost, the justice of the peace who was to serve as the de facto forensic scientist recalled the tragic scene.
Judge Lalo Diaz Jr. he learned of the situation of “an active shooter” from a police alert on social media, he told CNN’s Poppy Harlow on Thursday, fearing the possibility of fatalities.
But soon after, “I hear ambulances and I hear agents and sirens,” he said.
Called to elementary school, Diaz and a forensic doctor from nearby Bexar County entered the crime scene hours after a Border Patrol tactical team killed the gunman.
“My mind was running,” Diaz said, “Knowing I was going to see something that was amazing, that I would never have wanted to see.”
There, among the murdered children, Diaz recognized Professor Irma Garcia, whom he had known since they went to school together. Diaz was also a friend of her husband, Joe Garcia, who died of a heart attack two days after the shooting.
“It breaks my heart,” Diaz said. “I’m seeing this devastation that these weapons have done to children and these teachers, and it’s amazing.”
The Garcia funeral will take place on Wednesday and additional funerals for the other killings will continue for the next few days.
CNN’s Rebekah Riess, Chris Boyette, Amir Vera, Holly Yan, Elizabeth Joseph, Aya Elamroussi, and Haley Burton contributed to this report.