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Marysville student witness: 'Everyone was shocked' in cafeteria during shooting

Alan Perez, a junior at Marysville Pilchuck High School who was in the cafeteria during Friday’s horrific school shooting, joined TODAY’s Lester Holt on Saturday to describe the scene and discuss he how he and his fellow classmates are coping. On how he's trying to deal with the aftermath: "I’m just trying to appreciate the fact that he didn’t go after everyone else, and didn't open fire

Alan Perez, a junior at Marysville Pilchuck High School who was in the cafeteria during Friday’s horrific school shooting, joined TODAY’s Lester Holt on Saturday to describe the scene and discuss he how he and his fellow classmates are coping. 

  • On how he's trying to deal with the aftermath: "I’m just trying to appreciate the fact that he didn’t go after everyone else, and didn't open fire on anybody else," he said. "I'm just trying to keep a positive attitude about that."
  • On the scene that he saw: "What caught my attention was I actually saw someone get out of the table and stand up, and I saw [the attacker] walk up, and he had a gun," he said. "At that time, I kind of just froze... It was so surreal."
  • On what he noticed about the attacker before the shooting: "He didn't seem like he was really upset at all," he said. "But I don't really know him that well, so it's really hard for me to say."
  • On how his classmates reacted: "It was like my reaction, everyone was shocked for a couple of seconds," he said. "Everybody just started running out of the building, a lot of people were crying, some people were screaming."

Marysville announced that the school will remain closed through next week.