“There is compelling evidence that the law enforcement response to the Robb Elementary attack was a miserable failure and contrary to everything we have learned in the last two decades since the Columbine massacre,” said Colonel Steven McCraw on the Texas Senate Special Committee. . Protect all Texans. “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,” he continued. “The only thing that prevented the corridors of dedicated officers from entering rooms 111 and 112 was the local commander, who decided to put the lives of the officers above the lives of the children.” The impressive comments come more than a month after a gunman with an AR-15 assault rifle entered two adjacent ranks at 11:33 a.m. and killed 19 children and two teachers. The gunman remained in the classroom – even when the children inside called 911 and begged for help – until law enforcement finally broke into the halls and killed him at 12:50 p.m., according to a timetable. by the Department of Public Safety. What happened during those 77 minutes remained unclear as Texas officials offered conflicting accounts of the response. McCrow’s comments on Tuesday represent the first time an official has provided substantial information about the shooting in weeks. He said the wait-and-see decisions run counter to the active sniper protocol to stop the suspect as soon as possible. “The officers had guns, the children had none. The officers had armor, the children had none,” McCroe said. “The post-Columbine doctrine is clear and urgent and clear. Stop killing. Stop death.” The public security department schedule stated that 11 police officers arrived at the school, several with rifles, within three minutes of the gunman entering the classrooms. The suspect then shot and wounded several police officers who approached the ranks and they retreated into a corridor outside the rooms. The team of officers then remained in the corridor and did not approach the door for another 73 minutes. “While they were waiting, the commander on stage was waiting for a radio and rifles,” McCraw said, referring to Arredondo. “Then wait for shields. Then wait for SWAT. Finally, wait for a key you never needed.” Arredondo had previously told the Tribune that he did not consider himself the commander of the incident that day. However, at least one of the officers is noted at 11:50 a.m. that he believes Arredondo was in charge of law enforcement within the school, telling others, “The principal is responsible,” according to the public safety department’s schedule.
THE OFFICERS DID NOT TRY TO RECEIVE THE DOORS FOR OVER ONE HOUR
Late Monday, reports from CNN, the Texas Tribune and the Austin American-Statesman previewed some of the DPS timetables and revealed further flaws in the police response. Authorities initially said the suspect had been locked behind locked doors, preventing police from stopping him until 77 minutes later. However, preliminary evidence shows that none of the officers tried to open any of the doors until the gunman was shot down, according to a law enforcement source close to the investigation and report to the Tribune and American-Statesman. Arredondo, who has been identified by other officials as the commander of the incident at the scene, had previously told the Texas Tribune that officers had found that the classroom doors were locked and reinforced with a steel rod, preventing any possible reaction or rescue. Efforts were made to locate a key to unlock the door, he said. The officers were not without weapons and equipment, according to McCraw. However, at 11:40 a.m., Arredondo called the Uvalde Police Department mission shortly after the gunman fired at the officers and asked for further assistance and radio, according to a DPS transcript. “We do not have enough firepower at the moment, it’s all a pistol and it has an AR-15,” Arredondo was quoted as saying by a DPS transcript. In the first minutes of their response, an officer also said that a Halligan, a firefighting tool used for forced entry, was at the scene, according to schedule. However, the tool was not introduced to the school until just one hour after the officers arrived and was never used, the schedule said. A security shot taken by Austin’s American politician shows at least three officers in the hallway – two of whom have rifles and one appears to have a tactical shield – at 11:52 a.m., 19 minutes after the gunman entered the school. In all, officers had access to four ballistic shields inside the school, the fourth of which arrived 30 minutes before officers stormed the classroom, the Tribune said, citing a law enforcement report. An officer, according to the American-Statesman, said they had to act. “If there are children in there, we have to go in there,” he said. Another officer replied: “Whoever is in charge will determine it.” Towards the end of the confrontation, according to the law enforcement source, Arredondo wondered aloud if the police would consider “popping him out of the window”. A body camera recording showed Arredondo pointing at other officers at 12:46 p.m. that if a SWAT response team was ready, they would have to break down the door, an action that took place four minutes later.
THE REPORT COMES AFTER LACK OF TRANSPARENCY
The report – in three different media outlets and citing anonymous sources – underscores the lack of transparency of Texas officials in the public eye at such a critical juncture. Texas Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat, told CNN Monday that the report highlighted questions about why police did not try to break down the doors earlier. “We see that there are (there are) officers with enough ammunition, enough equipment to be able to break into this room,” he said. “I just do not understand why this did not happen, why they did not break into the room. “These answers must be given. They should not dribble into the media this way. Law enforcement should tell us exactly what went wrong. And the fact that we do not receive this information is just a travesty. And by himself “. CNN contacted both Arredondo’s lawyer, George Hyde, and the Uvalde Police Department about the reports. Arredondo, who has not spoken publicly since the incident, will testify in camera at a Texas commission investigating the shooting Tuesday, according to the commission. The new report has further angered bereaved families, whose questions have yet to be answered. “I’m angry,” said Jose Flores Sr., whose 10-year-old son, Jose Flores Jr., was among the children killed. “Our children were disappointed, they were left in there scared and, who knows, they cried. They gave up,” Flores told CNN “New Day” when asked about the latest revelations. “They are supposed to be trained professionals,” Flores told police. “I do not understand why they stood back so long to return … To stand back for an hour, to let them in with this gun, is not right. It is a cowardly, cowardly, cowardly thing.”
