Crime Heartbreaking Photos Show Terrified Students in Uvalde Escaping Through Elementary School Windows After 21 people, including 19 students, were killed Tuesday in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, new photos show the terror that unfolded as children escaped through windows By Glenn Garner Glenn Garner Instagram Twitter Glenn Garner is a Writer/Reporter who works heavily with PEOPLE's Movies and TV verticals. Since graduating from Northern Arizona University with a dual major in journalism and photography, he got his professional start at OUT Magazine, The Advocate and Teen Vogue, and he's since consistently kept his finger on the pulse of the LGBTQ community. His first book The Guncle Guide was released in 2020 and was featured on Katie Couric's list of 100 recommended books of the year. People Editorial Guidelines Published on May 27, 2022 11:23 PM Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: Uvalde Leader News 01 of 09 Uvalde School Shooting Uvalde Leader News In photos from Uvalde Leader News, terrified students of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, can be seen escaping through the school's windows with help from police. After Tuesday's school shooting that killed 21 people — including 19 students and two adults — witnesses recounted seeing panicked parents rushing to help kids out of the school. 02 of 09 Uvalde School Shooting Uvalde Leader News "Fathers smashed windows, and physically pulled their kids out of classrooms. There was a lot of chaos," Ernest "Chip" King, a Uvalde firefighter who was one of the first responders at the scene, told PEOPLE. One police officer described seeing teachers frantically attempting a head count of their students. Being the end of the school year, several students were absent and teachers couldn't remember who was out. "I saw one teacher trying not to cry as she asked the kids who had been absent that day," the officer said. 03 of 09 Uvalde School Shooting Uvalde Leader News Berlinda Arreola, 49, whose granddaughter Amerie Jo Garza was killed in the shooting, described the panicked reaction from parents who wanted to run into the school for their children. "Everyone was just showing up and they weren't doing anything," Arreola told PEOPLE. "The parents were being all crazy, like, 'Why aren't you all doing anything? Why aren't you going in?' But they were like, 'Until he opens gunfire, we can't do anything. We're holding on so that he doesn't open gunfire.' " Arreola explained that it was already too late. "We didn't know that he had already opened gunfire in there. We didn't even know that he had already shot all the kids. It was already done," she said. 04 of 09 Uvalde School Shooting Uvalde Leader News The director of the Texas Department of Public Safety has since said that the Chief of Police Pete Arredondo made the "wrong decision" in not confronting the shooter until more than 40 minutes after he entered the school. "From the benefit of hindsight where I'm sitting now, of course, it was not the right decision," Col. Steven McCraw told reporters. "It was a wrong decision. There's no excuse for that. We believe there should have been an entry as soon as you can. When there's an active shooter, the rules change." According to McCraw, the shooter barricaded himself inside a classroom that they believed was otherwise empty. All of the victims were found in that room. 05 of 09 Uvalde School Shooting Uvalde Leader News One police officer told PEOPLE that they stood outside the school for more than an hour, waiting for a signal to go in and neutralize the gunman. "There was almost a mutiny," he said. "We were like, 'There's a f—ing gunman in the school, we hear gunshots, and we're just going to stand here with our thumbs up our asses?' We wanted to go in and save lives. It was the most frustrating situation of my entire career." "We felt like cowards. It felt cowardly to stand off and let this punk, this kid, this 18-year-old asshole just go in and do whatever he wanted to do. There was a lot of arguing, a lot of cussing, a lot of people who were saying that we should just say f--- it and go in, but then what? We needed to have a plan, and the commander didn't have a plan," the officer added. 06 of 09 Uvalde School Shooting Uvalde Leader News Following the shooting, Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from a nearby district, penned a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, requesting an investigation into conflicting reports given by police. In the letter, Castro asked the bureau to "use its maximum authority to thoroughly examine the timeline of events and the law enforcement response." "The people of Uvalde, of Texas, and of the nation deserve an accurate account of what transpired," Castro wrote. "However, state officials have provided conflicting accounts that are at odds with those provided by witnesses, including whether the school security officer and the gunman exchanged fire outside the school, and how long law enforcement officers were in adjoining classrooms while the gunman barricaded himself in a classroom with students and teachers." 07 of 09 Uvalde School Shooting Uvalde Leader News Miah Cerrillo, an 11-year-old who was injured in the attack, recounted covering herself in her friend's blood and playing dead after the shooter opened fire on her class. She told CNN it felt like she was laying there for three hours. Her classmate Samuel Salinas, 10, also pretended to be dead, even after a piece of shrapnel hit his leg. "I played dead so he wouldn't shoot me," he said. "[The shooter] came in and said, 'You're all gonna die,' and just started shooting," Salinas said. "He shot the teacher and then he shot the kids." 08 of 09 Uvalde School Shooting Uvalde Leader News The shooter, who has been identified as Uvalde resident Salvador Ramos, 18, was found dead on the scene after abandoning his vehicle nearby and entering the school at around 11:30 a.m. "He shot and killed — horrifically, incomprehensibly — 14 students and killed a teacher. [The shooter], he himself is deceased," Texas Gov. Greg Abbott initially said. "And it is believed that responding officers killed him." Before arriving at the school, Ramos shot his grandmother at her residence, and she was subsequently airlifted to a hospital. 09 of 09 Uvalde School Shooting Uvalde Leader News President Joe Biden has since spoken out about the shooting, expressing his anger over the country's ongoing gun violence. On Wednesday, he signed an executive order on policing and public safety and pushed for "commonsense gun reforms." "As a nation, I think we all must be there for them," Biden said. "And we must ask: When in God's name will we do what needs to be done to, if not completely stop, fundamentally change the amount of the carnage that goes on in this country?" The school district in Uvalde has opened an official account with First State Bank of Uvalde to support Robb Elementary families affected by the tragedy. People can send checks through the mail (payable to the "Robb School Memorial Fund") or donate money through Zelle to robbschoolmemorialfund@gmail.com. People can also donate by calling 830-356-2273.