‘You chose to blame me’: Robb Elementary staffer says DPS director made her a scapegoat

Emilia ‘Amy’ Marin worked at Robb for just one month before the shooting

Robb Elementary staff member, Emilia “Amy” Marin, says DPS director made her a scapegoat. (ABC News)

UVALDE, Texas – Nearly five months after the Uvalde school shooting, Emilia “Amy” Marin said she will never be the same again after the trauma she’s endured from that horrific day.

“I’m suffering mentally. Of course, emotionally. I still don’t sleep,” Marin said in an interview with ABC News Sunday.

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Marin said in the months following the shooting, she’s developed a stutter and a tremor.

She had been working at Robb Elementary School for just a month before the unthinkable happened on May 24 -- a gunman made his way inside the campus with an assault rifle and killed 19 students and two teachers.

According to ABC News, Marin was walking out of the school to get food from a coworker when she saw the gunman crash his pickup truck not far from the school. He then got out, jumped a fence while carrying a rifle, and ran toward the school. Marin was one of the first people to notify 911.

As the gunman was heading toward the school, Marin reportedly kicked a rock out from under the door and slammed it shut, ABC News reported.

However, the door didn’t automatically lock as it was supposed to, according to Marin. The gunman was still able to gain access.

Just days after the massacre, DPS Director Steven McCraw told the press that the door “had been left propped open by a teacher,” allowing the gunman to enter. That staff member he was referring to was Marin.

ABC News asked Marin in the interview if she believed DPS had tried to make her a scapegoat and take the blame for letting the gunman get access to the school.

“That’s exactly what they were trying to do,” she said.

Days after McCraw’s claim, investigators confirmed to ABC News that Marin had shut the door and that it didn’t lock properly prior to the gunman’s entry.

Marin was asked if she had any more choice words for McCraw since the allegations surfaced.

“Your job was to sit there and watch that video and see what happened from beginning to end. And you chose not to watch the whole video. You chose to blame me,” she said.

ABC News then asked if there was anything McCraw could do to make it up to her.

She replied, “No, sir.”

DPS spokesman Travis Considine gave the following statement to ABC News:

“At the outset of the investigation, DPS reported that an unnamed teacher at Robb Elementary School used a rock to prop open the door that the shooter used to enter the school building. It was later determined that the same teacher removed the rock from the doorway prior to the arrival of the shooter, and closed the door, unaware that the door was unlocked. DPS corrected this error in public announcements and testimony and apologizes to the teacher and her family for the additional grief this has caused to an already horrific situation.”


About the Author:

Cody King is a digital journalist for KSAT 12. She previously worked for WICS/WRSP 20 in Springfield, Illinois.