US police admit mistakes in Robb elementary school shooting

Students made dozens of calls begging the police to come in

Colonel Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, informed that on May 27, at least two children made an emergency call from a fourth-grade classroom after 18-year-old Salvador Ramos carried an AR semi-automatic rifle. -15 burst into the classroom on May 24.

The shooter, Ramos, drove to Robb Elementary from his home after shooting and injuring his grandmother. He went on to kill 19 children and two teachers in the deadliest school shooting in America in nearly a decade.

“He’s in room 112,” a little girl whispered over the phone at 12:03. However, more than 45 minutes later, a tactical team led by the US Border Patrol burst into the classroom and ended the siege.

At the time, the commander on site, the sheriff of the school district for the Uvalde, Texas police department, believed Ramos was locked inside and was no longer an immediate danger to children, allowing the police force to preparation time, Mr. McCraw said.

“It was not the right decision. It was a wrong decision,” he admitted.

Latest revelations about developments school shootings in Uvalde had a strong impact on the public, including officials who announced the situation, Reuters reported.

“We’re here to report the truth, not to defend what’s been done or what actions have been taken,” said Mr McGraw, choking.

The official said that several 9- and 10-year-olds who were trapped with the gunman survived the massacre, including at least two students who called 911.

There were at least eight calls from classrooms to 911 between 12:03 a.m. – half an hour after Ramos entered the first building, to 12:50 p.m. – when Border Patrol agents and police arrived. to destroy Ramos.

McCraw was not clear if officers at the scene were aware of those calls while they were waiting.

A young girl, whom McCraw did not identify, called at 12:16 p.m., telling police that there were “8-9” students still alive, Col McCraw said. Three shots were heard in another call at 12:21.

The girl who made the call at 12:43 p.m. said to the operator, “Please send the police now,” and made another call four minutes later.

According to McCraw, officers were on the move three minutes after that last call, when the tactical team used the janitor’s key to open the locked classroom door.

Missed golden opportunities

Several officers exchanged gunfire with Ramos shortly after he entered the campus of Robb Elementary School at 11:33 a.m. At that time, 2 officers were hit by bullets and had to hide.

There were 19 officers in the hallway at 12:03 when the first 911 call from inside the classroom was received, McCraw said.

Videos appeared on May 26 showing parents outside the school were very impatient, urging police to enter the building, prompting police to restrain some parents.

Mr. McCraw acknowledged that standard law enforcement rules call for police to confront a school shooter without delaying or waiting for backup or additional weapons.

Medical professionals also often stress the importance of evacuating critically injured patients to a trauma center within 60 minutes – what emergency physicians call the “golden hour” – to save lives. .

According to Reuters, Mr McCraw also described other moments that could have stopped Ramos. For example, a school officer responding to a call that an armed man had crashed a car at the funeral home across the street was driving past Ramos at the time he crouched beside a car. within the school grounds.

Police said Ramos shot at two people standing outside before breaking the fence into the schoolyard.

Mr. McCraw noted that the door through which Ramos entered the building was left open by a teacher, a violation of the district’s security policy.

The revelation by local law enforcement of a delay in catching the gunman armed with a semi-automatic rifle comes at a time when the country’s leading gun rights advocacy group America, The National Rifle Association (NRA) opens its annual convention in Houston.

The Texas school shooting also comes 10 days after a shooting in Buffalo, New York left 10 people dead.

Investigators are still figuring out the motive for the latest school shooting. Ramos, a high school dropout, has no criminal record and no history of mental illness.