Some students who were in the building at Apalachee High School during Wednesday’s shooting described their experiences to CNN.
Martinez added that she saw some girls crying at a corner and that the teacher was shaking. “I just thought, ‘No, everything is going to be OK.’ Because if you tell yourself that everything is going to be OK, everything is going to be OK.”
Eventually the authorities came and took her from the classroom to the playing field, she said.
Another student, Alexandra Romero, said she could hear “the gunshots from a distance.” As they grew louder, the school announced it was going into lockdown. She and her classmates stayed in their room for about 10 minutes until they were evacuated by authorities.
Julie Sandoval said she heard five gunshots right next to her – a series of loud bangs, like heavy books falling over several times in a row. She and some of her classmates hid in the corner until police came into the room.
“I started shaking a lot and then I started crying. I tried to text many of my friends, but unfortunately everything was broken,” Sandoval told CNN.
She said she was worried about her sister, who also attends the school. Sandoval texted her parents to tell them she loved them.
CNN’s Elise Hammond contributed to this story, which has been updated.
