A teacher, who advised students at the Texas school to play dead in a bid to escape the shooting, slammed police saying that he will never forgive them for taking over an hour to enter his classroom as the gunman opened fire.

Arnulfo Reyes, a third and fourth-grade teacher who taught in room 111, was shot in the lung and the back by Salvador Ramos.

“Officer, we’re in here! We’re in here,” the student said, according to the teacher.

“They’re cowards,” Reyes said of the police. “They sit there and did nothing for our community. They took a long time to go in. … I will never forgive them.”

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He expressed his anger over the police response to the shooting, which killed 19 children and two teachers.

“After everything, I get more angry because you have a bulletproof vest. I had nothing. I had nothing. You’re supposed to protect and serve, there is no excuse for their actions,” Reyes said.

“This family lost one (child), I lost 11 that day,” he added. “I tell my parents, ‘I’m sorry. I tried my best, what I was told to do. Please don’t be angry with me’.”

The police response to the shooting has come under scrutiny after reports surfaced that authorities waited outside the scene and did not move in to stop the shooter.

“I told my kids to act like they’re asleep so I’m going to act like I’m asleep also. And I prayed and prayed that I wouldn’t hear none of my students talk,” Reyes told ABC News. 

According to the New York Times, which cited dozens of interviews with law enforcement officials, children who survived, parents who were witnesses outside and experts on policing, there were lapses in police officers’ judgement while handling the situation. It has been found that breakdowns in communication and tactical decisions may have contributed to additional deaths. It also delayed critical medical attention to the wounded.

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The gunman entered the school after shooting his grandmother at his home. He fired off more than 100 rounds at the Robb Elementary School.

Officers were in the school just minutes later, but they did not breach the classroom where Ramos was holed up for 77 minutes after he began his shooting rampage.