A cross is pictured with the names of the victims of a school shooting at a memorial outside Robb Elementary School, following the killing of nineteen children and two teachers by a gunman in Uvalde, Texas, on May 26, 2022.
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killer gunman 19 children and two teachers An elementary school in Texas had free access to a school building on Tuesday, officials said Thursday.
Victor Ascalon, the South Texas regional director of the state’s Department of Public Security, said Thursday that unlike information officers previously released, the gunman was not confronted by a school police officer before entering Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
the gunman walked in West side of Rob Elementary At 11:40 am on Tuesday and started firing. Four minutes later, he was followed by local and school police, Escalon said.
“They hear gunshots, they go round, they go back, get cover, and during that time, they get to where the suspect is,” Ascalon said.
According to Escalon, as the gunman entered, he walked 20 to 30 feet and turned right to walk 20 feet before turning left and into orbit.
“The officers are there, the starting officers, they get the bullets. They don’t enter because of the bullets initially. But we have the officers demanding additional resources, everyone is in the area,” Ascalon said.
“During this time when they are calling for help to solve this problem and stop it immediately, they are also firing personnel, when I say students, teachers. There is a lot going on. “
The suspect had shot his grandmother and rammed her pickup truck at around 11:28 am before leaving for school.
Escalon could not immediately explain how the suspect was not stopped in the 12 minutes between the accident and the entry into the premises.
“We got an accident and a guy with a gun and then you have the officers answering. That’s it, if that’s 12 minutes,” he said.
“At the end of the day our job is to report the facts and get those answers. We’re not there yet.”
Since the shooting, questions have been raised about the time the shooter crashed his vehicle outside the school and when he was fatally shot He locked himself inside the classroom by a Border Patrol officer to spread panic.
State and federal law enforcement officials previously said they did not yet have a timeline on the exact sequence of events.
Some, especially witnesses who were at the scene, have accused the authorities of not acting quickly.
Video footage from outside the school on Tuesday showed distressed parents and locals reacting to news of the shooting.
A woman is heard shouting: “Go in! Go in! F——What’s the deal?”
“They are all there, the police are doing nothing—except standing outside,” a man is heard saying. “You know they’re little kids, right? Little kids, they don’t know how to protect themselves.”
It is not clear when the video was filmed or whether officers were inside the building at the time.
Question about police response time
Asked if the authorities failed to act in time on the spot, Escalon declined to answer.
“It’s a tough question, it’s a tough question,” he said. “I don’t have enough information to answer that question right now.”
The director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Steven McCraw, said at a news conference Wednesday that the shooter was at the school for an hour before law enforcement broke into the classroom.
“It’s going to be like 40 minutes within an hour,” McCraw said.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Wednesday that the gunman entered the school through a back door, walked down two small hallways and into two adjacent classrooms, where he locked the door and opened fire.
Officers from several units and agencies, including local police and a tactical team from US Customs and Border Protection, arrived at the scene, but could not enter orbit.
State and federal law enforcement officials said the classroom door was finally opened when the principal presented a master key.
Rob Elementary serves second through fourth grade students in the small town of Uvalde, Texas, home to a large Latino community, about 75 miles from the Mexico border.