Texas mum speaks out about police stopping her from saving sons from school shooting
A mother from Uvalde, Texas, who said she was handcuffed by police while trying to rescue her sons from Robb Elementary School during last month’s shooting, has claimed she was warned by authorities not to speak to the media about her experience.
Angeli Gómez spoke to CBS News on Thursday, describing how she rushed into the elementary school and was able to save her children, despite law enforcement attempting to stop her.
The mother of two had been at the school earlier that day celebrating her childrens’ graduation ceremonies and was already back at work when she received a call from her mother, who told her the shooting was happening.
“Right away as soon as I parked my car, US marshals started coming towards my car saying I wasn’t allowed to be parked there and he said, ‘Well we’re going to have to arrest you because you’re being very uncooperative’,” she told the outlet.
“And I said, ‘Well, you’re going to have to arrest me because I’m going in there and I tell you right now, I don’t see none of y’all in there, y’all are standing with snipers and y’all are far away. If y’all aren’t going in there, I’m going in there.”
Ms Gómez recalled that she was then handcuffed to stop her rushing towards the school.
“I told one of the officers, ‘I don’t need you to protect me. Get away from me. I don’t need your protection. If anything, I need you to go in there with me to go protect my kids,” she said.
The US Marshals Agency has previously denied handcuffing parents, telling the Wall Street Journal that deputy marshals “maintained order and peace in the midst of the grief-stricken community that was gathering around the school”.
Ms Gómez told CBS News she convinced local police to uncuff her and she immediately jumped the fence and rushed into the school building when she was freed.
According to her account, she was chased by police officers towards the building and failed to see officers when she was inside, though she could hear gunshots from somewhere in the school.
When she knocked on the door of one of her first son’s classroom she recalled finding teachers and students hiding inside and that the teacher asked if they had time to get out.
“Yeah, you have time; I’m going to run and get my other son,” she replied.
Ms Gómez said authorities tried to escort her outside as she tried to approach her other son’s classroom, but when she saw them open the door she ran back to get him.
She was captured on camera running out of the school hand-in-hand with her two sons.
“Nothing was being done,” she told CBS News. “If anything, [law enforcement] were being more aggressive on us parents that were willing to go in there.”
Ms Gómez, who is reportedly on probation for previous charges, also told CBS News she received a call from “someone in law enforcement” telling her she may face some kind of violation for obstruction of justice if she continued to talk to the media.
According to CBS News, she said she spoke out after a judge called her “brave” and said her probation would be shortened.
However, Buzzfeed News reported that Ms Gómez’s account of the phone call and her probation couldn’t be independently verified.
It comes after the mishandling of the shooting by law enforcement sparked outcry across the US, with footage showing authorities confronting parents asking why officers weren’t going into the school to save the kids and the Justice Department opening an investigation into the situation.
As Ms Gómez recounted saving her children, she broke down in tears while considering how many other kids could have been saved if police had acted differently.
"They could have saved many more lives," Gómez said. "They could have gone into the classroom, and maybe two or three would have been gone, but they could have saved the whole, more, the whole class. They could have done something — gone through the window, sniped him through the window. Something, but nothing was being done."
Image: CBS News / YouTube