The teacher hid the bleeding side of her abdomen and tried to keep her students calm as she slid to her phone. She sent a text to her family that said she was shot.
For the first time in 30 years, Avila will not be sending students to school on Tuesday. The start of school will be different for her, and other survivors of the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School, with an emphasis on healing, both physically and mentally. Virtual education and private school have been used by some. Robb Elementary will never reopen, but many will return to Uvalde schools.
"I'm trying to make sense of everything, but it's never going to make sense."
As a permanent reminder of the horror she experienced with her students as they waited in their classroom for an hour for help, she has a scar down her torso.
A few minutes before she felt the pain of the bullet in her colon, she was moving students away from the walls and windows. A student was lined up by the door for recess when she told her that people were running and screaming. She slammed the classroom door to make sure the lock would catch.
A man walked into the fourth- grade wing and began spraying bullets before making his way into the rooms.
According to messages reviewed by The Associated Press, the man in room109 was constantly texting for help. She sent a text to her family that said it was for the teacher group chat. A message was sent to the school's vice principal. She sent a text to the school's counselor asking if her classroom was on lock down. When the principal told her that help was on the way, she said simply: "Help."
The principal said that they are coming.
Her messages may have been relayed to police. The district did not respond to requests for comment on the actions taken to communicate with law enforcement on May 24.
More than 400 local, state and federal officers stood in the hallway of the fourth- grade wing or outside the building for 77 minutes before some finally entered the adjoining classrooms and killed the shooter. Legislators found a relaxed approach to lock downs and security concerns. Federal and state investigations are still going on.
Pete Arredondo, the police chief of the district, was fired by the school board. Even as some call for more accountability, better police training and stricter gun safety laws, residents still don't know how trust can be rebuilt.
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She said that no one came to help them.
Some of her students shook her as she lay motionless, unable to speak louder than a whisper. She wanted them to know she was alive.
There was a light in their window. The students were afraid it might be the shooter.
The little girls closest to me told me that it would be okay. Avila said they love you miss.
She had a window broken in her classroom. The last students to be let out in the area were the officers who came to evacuate her students.
With her remaining strength, she was able to help students get onto chairs and tables. She said she was too weak to jump herself. She was pulled out of the window by him.
I didn't see my children again. I was able to hear them telling them to run, run, run. "I said so," she said.
A helicopter took her to a San Antonio hospital. She was in and out of care for a long time.
A student in her class was wounded by a piece of metal and was released from the hospital. She said students helped each other after they were hurt.
They were able to stay calm for an hour while we were terrified.
As her students prepare to return to school for the first time since that traumatic day, she is on the road to recovery, walking up to eight minutes at a time on a treadmill in physical therapy and going to counseling. Someday, she hopes to teach again.
There is a memorial for the people killed outside of Robb Elementary. Teachers from across Texas paid their respects and contemplated what they would do in the same situation.
"If I survive, I have to make sure they survive first," she said, breaking into tears.
As the person to greet parents, students and staff at the door in the mornings, she likely would be the first person shot.
Ofelia Loyola is a teacher in San Antonio. She was confused by the delayed response from law enforcement.
All of them are children. She said that protecting them doesn't matter how old they are.
The end-of-year party they were unable to have in May was the reason for the meeting last week. She gave them bracelets with a small cross to remind them that God was with them that day.
On that day, they were able to do that because they talked about being kind, respectful, and taking care of each other.
They cared for each other. I was taken care of by them.
That's right.
There is more information on the school shooting in Uvalde.
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