‘We were scared’ — 8 stories of survival after deadly school shooting

Shooting at California high school leaves 2 dead, multiple injured

During the heat of gunfire, some students hid or sheltered in place. Others frantically called or texted their parents. Some ran from the campus.

A day after gunfire erupted at a Southern California high school, killing two students and wounding three others, survivors and their parents have begun to share poignant stories about the worry and uncertainty they experienced in the aftermath of Thursday’s tragedy.

»PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Santa Clarita shooting: 2 dead, 3 injured in shooting at Saugus High School

Students find help at nearby home

Freshman Rosie Rodriguez said she was walking up the library stairs when she heard noises that sounded like balloons popping. She realized they were gunshots when she saw other students running.

Still carrying a backpack filled with books, she ran across the street to a home, where a person she didn’t know gave shelter to her and about 10 other students.

“I just heard a lot of kids crying. We were scared,” Rodriguez said. — The Associated Press

Kurt Rennels hugs  son Eric after reuniting at a park near Saugus High School after the shooting.

Credit: Mario Tama

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Credit: Mario Tama

‘My worst nightmare’ 

One student says she initially mistook gunshots for instruments in a band class.

Shauna Orandi, 16, said she was in her Spanish class doing homework when she heard four gunshots that she initially mistook as instruments from a band class. She said a student burst into the room saying he’d seen the gunman, and her classmates were stunned into silence.

“My worst nightmare actually came true,” she said later as she left a nearby park with her father. “This is it. I’m going to die.”

Shauna said she has heard about so many school shootings that she always assumed she’d panic. But she stayed calm with the help of her teacher, who locked down the classroom.

She was later escorted from the school and reunited with her father in a nearby park. — The Associated Press

A father hugs his daughter after being reunited at a park near Saugus High School after the shooting.

Credit: Mario Tama

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Credit: Mario Tama

'Worst 10 minutes of my life' 

The sound of gunfire sent some students running, while others and staff followed recently practiced security procedures.

Kyra Stapp, 17, was watching a documentary in class when she heard two gunshots. Panicked students ran in, saying that a shooting was taking place.

Kyra’s class and others were herded into a teacher break room, where they locked the door and turned off the lights.

Kyra texted her mother and tried not make any noise. They exchanged messages as sirens screamed and helicopters and deputies carrying rifles and shotguns swarmed the campus. Then Kyra fell silent while officers escorted students out.

“She’s been texting me and all of a sudden she’s not,” Tracy Stapp said. “That was like the worst 10 minutes of my life, I swear.” — The Associated Press

Some students were in tears as they were escorted by police from the school.

Credit: Al Seib

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Credit: Al Seib

'I'm too smart to die' 

Kristine Almaraz, 50, said she was dropping off her younger son at Arroyo Seco Junior High when she saw police cars flying past on Bouquet Canyon Road.

“I thought, ‘I pray to God it’s not the high school,’ ” she said.

“Are you ok?” she texted her son, Maxximus, 16, who was at Saugus, sheltering in place in his first-period classroom.

“Yea,” he texted back. “Don’t worry mama. You know I’m too smart to die.” — The New York Times

Marco Reynoso hugs his son, 11thgrader Dylan Reynoso, after reuniting after the shooting.

Credit: Mario Tama

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Credit: Mario Tama

'Kids today, they never call' 

Jeremy Thompson first learned about the shooting when his younger son, a sophomore at Saugus, called him early Thursday.

“Kids today, they never call, so you get this call, and you automatically wonder what it’s going to be,” Thompson said from a parent reunification center nearby.

The sophomore told his father there had been shots fired at school and that he was walking away from the building toward his mother’s house. His older son, a senior, told him by text that he and his classmates had barricaded themselves in a classroom and covered up the windows. Thompson had been at the school the night before to see one of his sons performing in a theater production of “Shakespeare in Love.”

“And then I come here this morning and see a bunch of them huddled together in tears,” he said.

“You just hope against hope that it’s not going to hit your school or your kids,” he said. — The New York Times

Another unidentified student is reunited with her mother after the shooting.

Credit: DAVID WALTER BANKS

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Credit: DAVID WALTER BANKS

'Made me break down in tears' 

Jeff Turner, 58, had just dropped off his children and a friend at the school when he returned home to find his wife screaming in the driveway. They rushed back to the school. He said they found their daughter, Micah, 14, crying and upset. “She was saying, ‘I feel guilty that I didn’t stay and help the people who were shot,’ ” Turner said. “And that was the thing that made me break down in tears in that moment.” — The New York Times

Student Patrick Karamian, 17, embraces his father Ara Karamian as they leave the reunification area in Central Park after being evacuated from Saugus High School.

Credit: Brian van der Brug

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Credit: Brian van der Brug

The panic on their faces 

Lucy Gulley, 47, lives up the street from the school and was getting ready to take her younger son, who is 11, to a junior high nearby when she saw children running.

At first, she told her son they were goofing around. But then she saw the panic on their faces.

She and her husband rushed several students into their home to call their parents.

“It’s very emotional,” she said. “You just automatically get into the state of mind where you put your child in that situation.” — The New York Times

Parents walk with one of the students evacuated from Saugus High School after the shooting.

Credit: Brian van der Brug

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Credit: Brian van der Brug

'My kids have to live with this' 

Kahilan Skiba, 16, said she was outside the band room when she realized she was hearing gunshots over the din of high schoolers practicing their instruments.

Kahilan picked up her clarinet and music stand and rushed back into the room.

“Someone’s shooting a gun in the quad,” she told her teacher.

She said roughly 40 students packed into a practice room and another 35 or so sheltered in the teacher’s office.

“Everyone was crying and holding each other,” she said. They texted their families.

»MORE: What are the worst school shootings in modern US history?

When, about a half an hour later, they were allowed out, Kahilan said she saw a girl being carried out of the choir room on a stretcher.

In the quad, there were bags and belongings strewn everywhere.

“It was the most eerie thing,” she said.

Brian Skiba, Kahilan’s father, said his younger son told him he heard screaming when he was dropping him off at school. So Skiba ran up to the entrance. By then there were police officers locking down the campus. He heard from his children by phone, but he waited at the school for more than two hours before he could see them.

“Now  there’s relief mixed with anger,” he said. “My kids have to live with this.” — The New York Times

— Compiled by ArLuther Lee / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution