In the wake of Thursday’s Saugus High shooting, several students and parents are sharing what they went through after the shots were fired.

At approximately 7:38 a.m. Thursday morning, a 16-year-old male student walked into the quad of Saugus High School, pulled a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun from his backpack, and opened fire, according to Sheriff’s officials.

“I first walked into Saugus and sat down for five minutes,” said Talin Keshish, a senior at Saugus High. “Then I heard a gunshot.”

Keshish said she was less than 100 feet away from where the shooting took place.

“At first I thought it was nothing and ignored it, and then I heard two more,” Keshish said. “That’s when I knew it was a gunshot, and I ran out the front gate.”

Meanwhile, Eddie Moreno, parent to Saugus High sophomore Brianna Moreno, was at work in Los Angeles when his wife called.

“She was a little shook up, crying obviously, and said there had been a shooting at Saugus,” Moreno said. “The first thing that popped in my mind, I asked her, ‘Where is Brianna?’”

Thankfully for Moreno, his daughter was not hurt, and had been in constant contact with his wife.

“My daughter was with a couple of her friends,” Moreno said. “They were receiving messages from other friends as far as what was going on, feeding messages back to me and my wife at the same time.”

See Related: Two Dead After Saugus High School Shooting, Multiple Injuries, Suspect In Custody

Moreno’s daughter was not the only student to remain with friends during the situation. As Brianna and her friends relayed information to their parents at a nearby Starbucks, Keshish grabbed her friend, Skylar, and ran.

“We were by the front gate,” Keshish said. “(The gunshots) were at the center of the school by the quad. I had one friend, Skylar, and we ran up to the park.”

While students were escorted to Central Park to be picked up by their family, Keshish and her friend ran the opposite way to Hyssop Park, located less than a mile away at the end of Camomile Lane.

As the two girls waited for their parents to come get them, Moreno was trying to get to his own family.

“Immediately after getting off the phone with (my wife), I thought, ‘I have to go, I have to be with them,’” Moreno said. “The one thing on my mind was: my other daughter was in one of the elementary schools nearby the shooter’s house.”

The elementary school attended by Moreno’s younger daughter, a fifth-grader, was placed on a hard lockdown, with students and staff guarded by armed law enforcement. 

Many schools in the Santa Clarita Valley were placed on a hard lockdown as a result of the shooting, including all of the schools in the William S. Hart Union High School District and the Sulphur Springs School District.

Being unable to get to his child was especially anxiety-inducing for both Moreno, his wife and his daughter.

“My wife said that she was crying on the phone,” Moreno said of his younger daughter. “They don’t understand what’s going on at that age, so it’s confusing. It adds to their tension, seeing the people that they trust worried about something they don’t understand.”

Related: Community Rallies After Saugus High School Shooting

In the aftermath of the shooting, Saugus High students and their families have been left with many questions as the investigation continues. The tragedy has left behind a marked impression on those who experienced the terror of the shooting itself or the grief of losing a loved one.

“It’s a close community so I know there’s going to be a lot of off-web info that’s going to be shared (by) friends and family, so we’ll see where everybody’s at,” Moreno said. “I think we’ll all be okay.”

While most will remember the shooting at Saugus High School as a tragedy, one teacher emailed her students afterward and encouraged them to focus on being thankful for the lives they have.

“We’ve got Thanksgiving coming up in a couple of weeks, and as I reflect on today’s events, I’m struck anew at my overwhelming gratitude for this life and all of you,” the unnamed teacher wrote in the email, which was posted to social media by several students and parents. “Try to take some time this weekend to dwell on that instead of on the sadness, anger and disbelief we are all feeling. Know that you are in my heart today and always.”

Ed. Note: Jade Aubuchon contributed to this article.

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