Emergency workers who responded to the Uvalde shooting said there was so much blood they could 'smell iron': report

• In interviews obtained by CNN, emergency personnel described the scene of the Uvalde shooting to Texas investigators.

• One EMT said they had to wait outside of the school "for what felt like a while" before entering.

• The hallways were soon soaked with blood as another EMT said they could "smell the iron."

Medical personnel who rushed to the scene of last year's school shooting in Uvalde, Texas told investigators there was so much blood in the school hallways they could "smell the iron."

In interviews obtained by CNN, EMTs who responded to the shooting at Robb Elementary School last May described the scene to investigators from the Texas Department of Public Safety.

A shooter killed a total of 19 children and two teachers during the attack, which unfolded over the course of an hour as officials waited to confront the suspect. At least one of the teachers and two children were still alive when law enforcement finally stormed the classrooms, but later died, according to CNN.

Amanda Shoemake, who said she arrived in the first Uvalde EMS ambulance on the scene, told investigators that she and her colleagues were waiting for "what felt like a while." She said spent the time directing traffic before officials called for medical personnel in the school, according to the interviews obtained by CNN.

When they were finally called in, Shoemake said EMTs were told the shooter had not yet been apprehended and may have been hiding in the ceiling. They sheltered as law enforcement confronted the shooter, Shoemake told investigators.

"We just squatted down there and waited there until the shooting stopped," Shoemake said, according to CNN. "And then after some time they brought out the first kid that was an obvious DOA."