Editor's note: This story has been updated throughout.

AUSTIN — Scot Rice found her behind the cafeteria, near the dumpsters.

His wife, Flo, a substitute teacher at Santa Fe High School, had managed to crawl out the back door. There she lay, still, quiet, playing dead, just like they'd be taught in their safety drills. Scot tried to run to her but police yelled at him him to get back.

"I could see her laying on the ground motionless," Scot Rice said. Bullets whizzed past and he and his daughter took cover. Police returned fire, schoolyard turning into a war zone. Scot felt helpless, watching Flo from afar. Just then, a school district police officer stopped, leaned down and took her into his arms. Scot said today, every day, "I'm here to honor that officer."

His name is Johnny Banda. Gov. Greg Abbott has given him a commendation for the bravery he showed last week during the school shooting that left 10 dead and a dozen wounded. Flo Rice is expected to make a full recovery, her husband said, thanks to Banda.

On Thursday, Scot Rice and Banda were among dozens of shooting survivors and families who met Abbott, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and other Texas leaders to talk about their stories — and how to make sure they never experience that kind of horror again.

The discussion capped a three-day gun violence summit Abbott called in the wake of the Santa Fe shooting and the massacre at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs last November.

1 / 9Scot Rice (right) credits police officer Johnny Banda with saving his wife, Flo , during last week's school shooting in Santa Fe. "I could see her laying on the ground motionless," Scot Rice said. Bullets whizzed past and he and his daughter took cover.(Drew Anthony Smith / Getty Images) 2 / 9Texas Gov. Greg Abbott held a roundtable discussion with victims, family, and friends affected by the Santa Fe, Texas school shooting at the Capitol on May 24, 2018 in Austin, Texas. Representatives from Sutherland Springs, Alpine, and Killeen were also invited. (Drew Anthony Smith / Getty Images) 3 / 9Scot Rice hugs Santa Fe Independent School District police officer John Banda after telling his story during a roundtable discussion in Austin, Texas, Thursday, May 24, 2018, hosted by Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott to address safety and security at Texas schools in the wake of the shooting at Sante Fe, Texas. Rice's wife Flo Rice, a substitute teacher, was carried from the Santa Fe scene of last week's school shooting by officer Banda after she was shot in the leg. (Eric Gay / AP) 4 / 9Texas Gov. Greg Abbott held a roundtable discussion with victims, family, and friends affected by the Santa Fe, Texas school shooting at the Capitol on May 24, 2018 in Austin, Texas. Representatives from Sutherland Springs, Alpine, and Killeen were also invited.(Eric Gay / AP) 5 / 9Santa Fe students takes part in a roundtable discussion in Austin, Texas, Thursday, May 24, 2018, hosted by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to address safety and security at Texas schools in the wake of the shooting at Santa Fe, Texas. Thursday's roundtable included victims, students, families and educators from the Santa Fe, Alpine and Sutherland Springs communities. (Eric Gay / AP) 6 / 9Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, left, reached out to a man holding back tears as he speaks during a roundtable discussion in Austin, Texas, Thursday, May 24, 2018, to address safety and security at Texas schools in the wake of the shooting at Santa Fe, Texas. Thursday's roundtable included victims, students, families and educators from the Santa Fe, Alpine and Sutherland Springs communities. (Eric Gay / AP) 7 / 9Texas Gov. Greg Abbott held a roundtable discussion with victims, family, and friends affected by the Santa Fe, Texas school shooting at the Capitol on May 24, 2018 in Austin, Texas. Representatives from Sutherland Springs, Alpine, and Killeen were also invited.(Drew Anthony Smith / Getty Images) 8 / 9Texas Gov. Greg Abbott held a roundtable discussion with victims, family, and friends affected by the Santa Fe, Texas school shooting at the Capitol on May 24, 2018 in Austin, Texas. Representatives from Sutherland Springs, Alpine, and Killeen were also invited.(Drew Anthony Smith / Getty Images) 9 / 9Texas Gov. Greg Abbott held a roundtable discussion with victims, family, and friends affected by the Santa Fe, Texas school shooting at the Capitol on May 24, 2018 in Austin, Texas. Representatives from Sutherland Springs, Alpine, and Killeen were also invited.(Drew Anthony Smith / Getty Images)

They met for nearly four hours — almost half of which was open to the media — and offered the governor dozens of recommendations. There need to be more armed teachers and school marshals, parents and students said. Mental health counselors should be in every school, they added, and parents who own guns should be held accountable for kids who misuse them.

What about metal detectors? Mandatory school uniforms? An app for students to report their peers? How about a "lock down" alarm, like a panic button, that would alert students to shelter in place rather than file out into the line of fire?

Stephen Willeford, the NRA member who shot the man who killed 26 people in Sutherland Springs, said he wants it to be illegal for felons to even apply to get a firearm. Grace Johnson, a student at Santa Fe High School, wants more security. And many said they want the media to leave them alone, or, at least, to treat them with care and respect.

The attendees — about 30 from Santa Fe and five from Sutherland Springs — told the politicians before them they didn't think this was "a gun thing" or a partisan thing.

No, they said — it's about man's age-old struggle against evil. One woman wore a black shirt emblazoned with sparkling gold letters.

"It's not a right thing. It's not a left thing," the shirt read. "It's a LIFE or DEATH thing."

Media has been let in to listen to last 30 minutes of gun violence talks with shooting victims and families.

First thing we hear is a Santa Fe father who blasts @CNN for reaching out to his daughter — while he was still in the school. #txlege pic.twitter.com/e13bTcBwWZ — Lauren McGaughy (@lmcgaughy) May 24, 2018

Abbott sat rapt, white legal pad on his lap, taking notes, asking questions, recapping suggestions. He acknowledged there was no one way to rid the world of mass shootings or the people who undertake them. It'll probably take lots of changes, he said, to prevent one incident.

"There's not a single solution that will solve everything," Abbott said. "We got some fantastic ideas, all of which are imminently doable."

Recapping all three days of meetings, the governor said two ideas stood out to him as policy recommendations on which nearly everyone agreed and which they could implement: More police presence and better mental health counselors.

He thanked the moms and dads, students and police officers for making it to Austin for the meeting. Then the group was led in prayer by Frank Pomeroy, the Sutherland Springs pastor who lost his 14-year-old daughter, Annabelle, in the church shooting.

"I just pray tonight, Lord God, that each one of individually will leave this place with the understanding that you are with us," Pomeroy said as parents and children, politicians and citizens, clasped hands. "But, also, too that you will work with Gov. Abbott and these leaders and that we should continue to pray for them as you work with them to bring forth the policies and the ideas and the direction."