Steven McCrow, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, described the response as a “miserable failure” with “terrible decisions” made by the local commander. He reiterated his earlier claim that 19 officers had waited more than an hour in a corridor outside the ranks before a Border Patrol task force entered and killed the gunman. Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in the May 24 attack. Mr McCraw told a Texas Senate hearing Tuesday: “The officers had guns, the children had none. The officers had armor, the children had none. The officers had training, the issue had none. “One hour, 14 minutes and eight seconds – so many children and teachers waited in room 111 to be rescued.” “Three minutes after the subject entered the western building, there were a sufficient number of armed officers wearing armor to isolate, distract and neutralize the issue,” McCroe added.
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His testimony comes after US media reported this week that officers with heavier firepower and tactical equipment had arrived on the spot much earlier than initially reported – but did not break into the classroom. Picture: 19 children and two teachers were killed Parents outside the school following the massacre had called on law enforcement to take decisive action to rescue their children – some of whom made desperate calls to 911. There was also a delay in entering the classroom while police were looking for a key. However, the door was not locked and there is not even an inspection by officers, said the head of public security in Texas. “There is no way to lock the door from the inside and there is no way for the subject to lock the door from the inside,” McCraw told the Senate. The police chief that day, Uvalde’s school police chief Pete Arredondo, has been widely criticized and parents and members of the community have called for him to resign. Read more: The full timeline of the police response to the massacre Image: Pete Arredondo “Wait for radio and rifles, and wait for shields and wait for SWAT,” McCraw said Mr McCraw told the Texas Senate: “The only thing that prevented a corridor of dedicated officers from entering Halls 111 and 112 was the local commander, who decided to put the lives of the officers above the lives of the children.” He claimed that Mr Arredondo was “waiting for a radio and rifles, waiting for shields and waiting for a SWAT”. Follow the Daily Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker There was “unstable evidence” that the response to Robb Elementary School was “a miserable failure and contrary to all we have learned” [after the Columbine shooting]Mr McCraw added. Mr Arredondo said earlier this month that he had not instructed officers to contain the breach and had never considered himself a commander, assuming someone else had taken responsibility.
