SANTA FE, Texas — A student who hid in that art room closet says she survived because another student threw himself against the door. Six others hiding with her died.
"Everybody was speechless, nobody said anything, we were all just afraid everybody had fear on their faces," said Jai Gillard, a freshman at Santa Fe High School.
She says it was one of the victims who died, Christian Riley Garcia, who saved her life. Gillard was in her first period art class when the shooter barged in.
"He broke the glass and said surprise and he was laughing and all that," she said.
Gillard rushed into a closet while she says Garcia leaned against the door, acting as a barricade to keep the shooter from coming in.
"He was getting closer to our door and the person that was barricading it Christian was moving and trying to pick up Mrs. Tisdale and Jared," she said.
Gillard says even in the face of danger, Garcia kept trying to help. She watched as he tried to pull two others off the floor, one of them she says was substitute teacher Cynthia Tisdale who was trying to call 9-1-1.
"He did what he needed to do he was blocking the door protecting us all so we didn't get hurt," she said.
Eventually, Gillard saw an opportunity and ran, but behind her she says others were shot. She says she'll always remember Garcia as a man who laid down his life for his friends.