It’s been more than three months since a gunman burst into First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs and terrorized worshippers and two survivors who were shot are still reeling from the painful day on November, 5.
“I remember everything that happened,” Rosanne Soto, victim. “I still have nightmares…when I wake up I’m always crying because you know I’m still scared.”
Soto and her husband Joaquin Ramirez say they relive the terror daily.
Ramirez admits the piercing screams from children jolt him awake and the images of people taking their last breaths cloud his thoughts.
The couple never imagined their small church would become the target of a mass shooting. Soto says she remembers hearing a loud noise, but didn’t realize until moments later it was bullets spraying across the church.
"I could see the shots and I had my hands on my ears and I was crying and screaming," Soto said.
Soto and Ramirez always sat in the third row from the left, behind the shooters mother-in-law, a spot Soto says the gunman sprayed with bullets before bursting into the church.
"I told my husband, 'you need to get out of here,'” Soto said. “I said, 'they are going to kill both of us.'"
Ramirez says he can still remember the pastor’s daughter, Annabelle Pomeroy begging him for help, but he said he didn’t know how.
The gunman killed 26 people inside the small church, where Soto begged for a miracle.
"I just want to see my grandchildren,” Soto said. “I told Him please don't let me die, don’t let me die I told him."
When the shooting finally stopped Soto began to frantically search for her husband.
"I was just crying and screaming, I was screaming for him, you know where are you I kept screaming….I could see people running in and out of the church,” Soto said.
Distraught by the terror she witnessed she didn’t realize until she was approached by an officer that she had been shot on her back shoulder.
A scar now reminds her of the painful horror she survived.
Ramirez also carries an agony of his own; he was shot in the leg.
Each day brings a new challenge, but they are hanging on to faith to keep them strong.
"I thank the lord that I'm alive and I'm going to live every day to the fullest from here on, every day like it was the last day," Soto said.
Soto says since the shooting her husband hasn’t been able to work, adding a financial burden.
If you would like to help Soto and her husband you can email her at Rosana1960may@gmail.com