Watch: US schoolteacher, injured in Texas school shooting, gets wholesome welcome by community

The Grade IV teacher was finally able to return home after a month’s stay in the hospital. He was welcomed by members of the town and his students who stopped their cars by his house and took their turns to hug him and give him gifts.

The mother of a kid who passed away while attending Reyes’s class also stopped by to meet him. While talking to NPR, Reyes said that his former student’s mother told him not to feel survivor’s guilt over not being able to help his students.

The video of the touching community welcome, which took place on June 28, 2022, is widely circulating online over the weeks.

the welcome home for a teacher in Uvalde, whole town came out to see him pic.twitter.com/kt1vM9dQ0U

— Magneto Rex (@MagnetoRex4Life) July 16, 2022

As moving as this video is, it makes me mad that we have to come welcome home an underpaid teacher for trying to save the life of our children – something our overpaid politicians are not willing to do.
This country has really messed up priorities.

— Mark (@mark_novata) July 17, 2022

Educators understand and feel that they are responsible for children during the school day in the parents’ absence. The guilt from surviving and not being able to return children to their parents is unthinkable.

— DJ (one of those women from Michigan) (@nutmeg3000) July 17, 2022

So many of the visitors brought envelopes. You can be certain that those envelopes all contain whatever money those families could spare that week because they know he’s not going to be able to get back to work & is about to get crushed by medical bills. That ain’t right.

— Sven Svenson (@MrSvenSvenson) July 17, 2022

Everyone in Congress should see this video of the Uvalde teacher who was shot several times being welcomed home. He lost his entire class while waiting for help from the police outside his classroom.😢💔

— Connie Lipnick (@connielipnick) July 17, 2022

I don’t know if people realize the deep love teachers have for their students. He is grieving for his boys & girls!💗

— CocoCrumpy (@cococrumpy) July 16, 2022

Even after this tragedy and so many others, Republicans in Congress want to do NOTHING to ban assault rifles.
NOTHING.

— Bruno Amato (@BrunoAmato_1) July 17, 2022

That wonderful man taught those sweet little children all year long, and EVERY student who remained in his class after the awards assembly that day died. Mr. Reyes will never recover. This video was sweet, but heartbreaking.

— Sonya💎😷💛🐝 🖤 202-224-3121 ☎️ (@meSonyaB) July 17, 2022

Behind the death statistics of gun violence are those who survive with lifelong physical disabilities and PTSD. And their families and caretakers and lives that go in forever damaged.

— S B Hammel 🤔 (@lasteve423) July 17, 2022

We don’t have to live like this. We don’t need to be held hostage by emotionally stunted gun fanatics who, like toddlers, throw a fit over their toys. We can fix this. https://t.co/sUusfWRo27

— Collin Yourbs – Jewish Junta (@CollinYourbs) July 18, 2022

On July 16, 2022, a Twitter user named Magneto Rex (@MagnetoRex4Life) shared a video of Reyes’s welcome on Twitter, where it got over 79,000 likes.

Commenting on the video, a Twitter user wrote, “As moving as this video is, it makes me mad that we have to come welcome home an underpaid teacher for trying to save the life of our children – something our overpaid politicians are not willing to do. This country has really messed up priorities.”

Another person wrote, “Behind the death statistics of gun violence are those who survive with lifelong physical disabilities and PTSD. And their families and caretakers and lives that go in forever damaged.”