Eva Mireles, who was a teacher at Robb Middle School the day a gunman entered and left 19 students and two teachers dead, was able to talk to her husband in her final moments.
Mireles was in her 4th-grade classroom when the 18-year-old shooter entered the building. She was shot and killed but was able to call her husband before passing, Ruben Ruiz, who was a school district police officer stationed outside the building.
From opposite sides of the school’s wall, Mireles and Ruiz had their last conversation, PEOPLE reported.
“She’s in the classroom, and he’s outside. It’s terrifying,” Uvalde County Judge Bill Mitchell told reporters after he was briefed by sheriff’s deputies who were at the shooting.
The call holds additional significance. While authorities previously said that the commanding officer believed that the gunman was barricaded in an empty classroom, the phone call between the couple seems to suggest that at least one officer on the scene may have known the gunman was in a room with students.
The new details come a day after a video of an emergency call telling officers that there were children calling 911 from inside the room.
It’s still unclear how long Mireles and her husband spoke, but Mitchell told reporters that she apparently described the horrific scene to him.
“I don’t know what was said,” Mitchell told reporters before saying that the general topic was that the gunman was already on the attack. “He’s outside hearing his wife: ‘I’m dying,'” Mitchell said, noting that he didn’t know her exact words.
Authorities are in the process of piecing Mireles’ final phone call while those close to her are still mourning her murder.
“Her smile and personality never went unnoticed as when she was around,” her family wrote in her obituary. “It was never a dull moment. She was an outstanding wife, mom, daughter, sister, friend, and educator. Eva will forever live on in our hearts and memories.”
