Remembering terror to help spread school safety awareness
SANTA FE, Texas - "What went on in that classroom with the kids in the art room was sheer horror." That’s how Flo Rice describes the day she was shot six times in her legs in the Santa Fe High School shooting in May 2018.
"When I heard the gunfire in the class, coming out of my classroom into the hallway it was the most deafening sound I had ever heard…I literally thought it was a bomb," says Rice.
As the substitute teacher laid there shot, she could hear more gunshots and could see her friend and fellow substitute teacher, Ann Perkins, a few feet away face down, dead.
"It was absolutely more terrifying than you could ever imagine…I looked down, and I saw one of my legs was completely twisted and broken, and then I looked and saw bloody bullet holes in my jeans. That was more horrifying than thinking it was a bomb because then I knew I was being hunted," Rice explains.
Five years later, Mrs. Rice can walk again, she lives with PTSD, now works in a public library and she’s an outspoken safety advocate.
"I believe every parent should be as involved in their child’s school safety as they are in their child’s education to make sure their child comes home alive," says Rice.
Rice added, "Stand up, talk to your school, talk to your state reps, your senators. Go to the TEA. There’s now a chief of school safety and security that’s been appointed by the governor to oversee school safety in our public schools. Call him. If you don’t think things are happening in your school the way they should and your children aren’t safe, make a call and talk about safety."
Watch the video to hear her share her harrowing story in her own words.