DALLAS — Angeli Gomez saw her once pass-through city of Uvalde instantly become a destination following an unthinkable tragedy.
"We weren't even on the map. People would tell me where is Uvalde and I would say it's on the way to the casino to Eagle Pass," said Gomez.
Angeli Gomez spoke with WFAA from the bedroom of a home she just moved into and is renovating. On May 24 the single mother of two was just at Robb Elementary celebrating her son's graduations. An hour and a half later she would defy officer orders and run in to rescue them. An act that would be both endearing and vilifying. People around the country had applauded her courage to stand up to authorities, but it has put a target on her back around town.
"I don't regret acting dramatic as I acted. I don't regret one piece of that day; just wish it never happened...just wish that day never happened," she said.
The summer was consumed by sorrow. The tragedy was all anybody in this small city and everyone outside it talked about. The community awaits the tearing down of Robb Elementary. Meanwhile, students have been going to other schools in the district or attending virtually.
"The tragedy kinda hit everybody. We all wanted to go to the meetings and we all needed things to do. We all couldn't let it go," she said. "We wanna see our friends, we still wanna play sports. We don't want all that to stop just cause," Angeli recalled conversations with her two boys.
'Moving on' for this community will not be so simple. But Angeli says it starts with those elected and hired to serve to say something. Uvalde CISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo was fired in late August. The entire school district police department was suspended in October. Two of the district's higher-ups have been placed on administrative leave and a former DPS officer under investigation for her actions during the response was hired by the district and fired late last week.
"At least just give an apology. At least say you were wrong. Just accept you were wrong. A lot of us would say, 'OK, that shows something,'" she said.
Three months after the tragedy and the pulse of this city is still going. There was no mass exodus. People in the city are trying to be strong. But with every new development comes an opening of wounds that may never heal.
Angeli Gomez said what happened in Uvalde has an "imprint of something we can never change," she said.