Marin went inside the school to report the crash and had left the door propped open with a rock, according to Flanary, who is assisting Marin with a possible civil claim against the makers of the weapon used in the slaughter.
Marin saw the 18-year-old gunman approach, Flanary said, so she kicked the door shut and ran to a nearby adjoining classroom, huddling underneath a counter.
“Frozen” in fear, Marin received a text from her daughter asking if she were safe, and had to eventually silence her phone, convinced the gunman would hear her, her attorney said.
“She thought he was going to come in and kill her and she made peace with that,” said Flanary.
“She felt alone, like she couldn’t even grieve,” Flanary said. “She second-guessed herself, like ‘did I not do that?'” he added.
The pre-suit petition does not accuse the gun manufacturer of any wrongdoing but seeks to investigate whether the Petitioner has any basis to file a claim against Daniel Defense. CNN has reached out to Daniel Defense for its response to the filing.
State senator calls for more answers
Search warrants have been issued for the shooter’s cell phone, vehicle and his grandparents’ home, court records obtained by CNN show. The warrant gives investigators the authority to perform a forensic download of the cell phone — which was located next to his body — in search of a motive.
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez said he spoke with the agency that regulates the 911 calls, the Commission on State Emergency Communications, and was told the 911 calls were handled by and relayed to the city’s police force on the scene. However, what is unclear is if that information was relayed to the school district police chief, who was the incident commander on the scene.
“They were being communicated to a Uvalde police officer and the state agency that I have spoken to has not told me who that is,” Gutierrez said.
“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 troopers were there. I want to know how many state troopers were outside. I want to know how many federal officers were inside 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 Commission on State Emergency Communications, Uvalde Police and Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District for comment on Gutierrez’s statements.
The state senator also said that DPS Col. Steven McCraw told him he would receive information about the identities of the 19 officers who were in the hallway outside the classroom on Friday. Gutierrez promised to share that information with the media once received.
Judge recounts trying to identify victims
As the community comes together to bury those lost, the justice of the peace who was on duty to serve as the de facto coroner recalled the tragic scene.
Judge Lalo Diaz Jr. found out about “an active shooter” situation from a police alert on social media, he told CNN’s Poppy Harlow on Thursday, dreading the possibility that fatalities would result.
But, not long afterward, “I hear the ambulances and I hear the officers and the sirens,” he said.
“My mind was just racing,” Diaz said, “Knowing that I was going to see something that was just unbelievable, that I would not have ever wanted to see.”
“It breaks my heart,” Diaz said. “I’m seeing this devastation that these weapons did to the children and to these teachers, and it’s just unbelievable.”
CNN’s Rebekah Riess, Chris Boyette, Amir Vera, Holly Yan, Elizabeth Joseph, Aya Elamroussi and Haley Burton contributed to this report.
