Texas authorities had a hard time keeping pace with questions from reporters throughout a controversial press conference relating to the shooting today at Robb Elementary School. Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Steven McCraw attempted to describe why police waited outside the Uvalde school for an hour while Salvador Ramos, the 18-year-old shooter, performed his attack inside.
A reporter asked McCraw why the 15 officers who got to the scene did not go into the school till 12:50 P.M.
“The decision was made on the scene,” McCraw said. “I wasn’t there, but at the same point in time, you know, the decision was made that this was a barricaded subject situation.”
The spokesman added, “The incident commander at the time was the belief, the you know, that that, in fact, was a barricaded subject, that we had time there was no kids at risk.”
McCraw informed the press that police thought that there was time to await tactical equipment to get here prior to going into the school due to the fact that the shooter had actually barricaded himself in a class.
“Hey, for the benefit of hindsight where I am sitting now, of course it was not the right decision it was the wrong decision period,” he added.
“Are you saying those children were no longer at risk?” the reporter asked during the exchange. “Are you saying those children were no longer at risk when he barricaded himself?”
Video caught beyond the school on the day of the May 24 attack reveals parents asking police to go into the structure, per Fox News.
Police handcuffed parents who appeared in hopes of reaching their kids. Another Father was forced to the ground while a third individual was pepper-sprayed outside the Texas elementary school.
According to reports, Ramos crashed his automobile two blocks from the school, got in the structure at around 11:30 A.M., and eventually barricaded himself inside a fourth-grade classroom for 30 to 60 minutes. He fatally shot 19 children and 2 teachers during this time.
The youngest victim was only 8-years-old.
Officers came to the grade school around 11:35 A.M., according to a timeline built by Business Insider.
An hour after the teenage shooter got into the class, a faculty member opened the door with a key and Police gained access.
Ramos was eventually killed in an exchange of gunfire with police.
Victor Escalon, a local director for the Texas Department of Public Safety, validated reports that Ramos was not challenged by a school district policeman.
“It was reported that a school district police officer confronted the suspect,” Escalon said during the May 27 press briefing. “That’s not accurate… The gunman walked in unobstructed initially.”
Ramos is thought to have entered the school through a door left open by a teacher. Prior to the attack, Ramos claimed on social networks to have also shot his grandmother.
Tensions remained high throughout the Uvalde, Texas press conference.
Another reporter ask McCraw if “the parents of the children who died” who were “hearing you say not everything that could possibly have been done as humanly fast as could be done was not done” should be offered an apology.
“If I thought it would help I would apologize,” McCraw replied. “You go back in the timeline, there was a barrage of hundreds of rounds were pumped in and four minutes into those two classrooms. Any firing afterwards was sporadic and it was at the door.”
“The belief is that there may not be anybody living anymore and that the subject is now trying to keep law enforcement at bay or entice them to come in and suicide by cop,” he said.
McCraw likewise verified that a minimum of two female students called 911 throughout the shooting from inside the class that Ramos took control of. He stated that between 12:43 and 12:47, one of the callers “asked 911 to please send the police now.”
The police did not enter the classroom to neutralize Ramon or render assistance for another three minutes.
H/T Timcast
