SAN ANTONIO — On Saturday night, for 77 minutes, many stood alongside Arnulfo Reyes at the Uvalde square with orange flags. 

The color orange creating awareness of gun violence and the 77 minutes it took law enforcement to confront and stop the shooter at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022. 

Nineteen students and two teachers died at Robb — Reyes survived the shooting. 

“I will keep doing it year after year as long as the lord permits me to do it,” Reyes said.

Remembering his colleagues Eva Mireles and Irma Garcia and the 19 students. 

“I can never forget them. It’s not just this day, it’s every day,” Reyes said. “The battle is within myself and the battle is with the legislature and with the laws at the Capitol.” 

The annual candlelight vigil was held later that evening, but it was different this year. 

At the center of the amphitheater were 19 student desks, and two teachers desks with photos of the victims. 

“We will always honor and remember Eva,” Maggie Mireles, sister of Eva Mireles, said. “She will always shine bright like a diamond.” 

Velma Duran placed a photo of her brother-in-law Joe Garcia on Irma Garcia’s desk. 

It was a photo of Joe Garcia leaving Irma Garcia’s memorial — he died two days after losing Irma Garcia. 

“I thought that was an appropriate picture because we see all of these pictures of them smiling and they don’t see the pain we go through every second,” Duran said. 

Families are still healing from this tragedy that forever changed their lives.