TEMPE — Students in Tempe told ABC15 they were sad to hear about the students that were killed in a mass shooting Tuesday in Uvalde, Texas.
"It makes me feel lucky and protected because it didn't happen to me," said 10-year-old Paula Rivera.
Zoe Aguilar-Alvarez, 8, shared that same sentiment.
"You shouldn't be killing kids because that's not right," she said.
On Wednesday, the girls were playing at a park in Tempe next to their school.
Paula's sister, Maria Rivera, 8, joined them on the playground.
The group told ABC15 that they do practice for lockdowns.
"Because we don't do a bunch of practices, I'd be really, really scared," said Maria.
"Since we know what to do, it kind of helps me feel more safe since we know like what to do. Like if we didn't know what to do we'd be more scared," added Zoe.
"It also makes me feel safe because we know what to do and how to do it but if we didn't know I'd be really scared," said Paula.
Zoe's mom, Maria Alvarez, said she worries something bad could happen here.
She said watching the news come out of Texas was difficult.
"It was something I saw but didn't want to look at because it was so painful," she said.
Zoe and Maria are heading into the 4th grade and are the same age as some of the victims.
Alvarez said she hopes all schools are able to have more safe guards moving forward.
