The head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Col. Steven C. McCraw, was back for another press conference in the aftermath of the heinous school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Salvador Ramos, 18, shot and killed 19 kids and two teachers. There has been a lot of back and forth concerning the timeline. The first trove of updates from officials was contradicted within 36 hours’ time. We had reports of the Ramos being confronted by police, and then he wasn’t. The school resource officer confrontation was a piece of information that’s been clarified. While the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District has six resource officers, one was not on campus at the time of the shooting. Why? Col. McCraw said he can’t offer any more specifics.
Col. McCraw went through the entire timeline—though this could be subject to change.
Via WFAA:The 911 call was placed at 11:30 a.m., reporting there was a crash and a man with a gun.
One minute later, Ramos arrived outside the school and began shooting toward classrooms, firing up to 100 rounds.
As he shot at the school, responding officers went to the nearby funeral home, near where Ramos crashed and shot at the two men.
One of the responding officers from the school district drove past Ramos, who was hunkered down behind a vehicle, McCraw said.
At 11:33 a.m., Ramos entered the school through the door that was propped open. He began shooting into a classroom, firing more than 100 rounds, according to audio evidence, McCraw said.
At 11:35 a.m., three Uvalde police officers entered the building, McCraw said. They were joined by four other officers.
The three initial officers who arrived went to the closed classroom door and were grazed by gunfire.
More gunfire was heard from inside the classroom at 11:37 a.m., 11:38 a.m., 11:40 a.m. and 11:44 a.m., McCraw said.
At 11:51 a.m., more police and federal agent started to arrive. Shortly after noon, there were at least 19 officers inside the hallway outside of the classroom, McCraw said.
At 12:15 p.m., tactical officers arrived, and the suspect fired again. About six minutes later, officers began moving down the hallway toward the classroom.
At 12:50 p.m., officers entered the classroom through the door after using keys they got from the janitor, and they shot and killed Ramos, McCraw said.
Ramos had 58 magazines with him, though not all were found on his person when he was finally neutralized by police. As for police not being inside the building, there were—19 of them. Several officers were on the scene immediately. Why didn’t officers breach the classroom door where Ramos was holed up? The incident commander on scene felt that it was no longer an active shooter situation. They felt that no kids were inside the classroom and that there was time to obtain keys from a custodian to unlock the door and breach the room with a tactical team. The school doors lock from the inside. How many kids died in that 48-minute window between locating Ramos’ location and breaching the door is not known. Col. McCraw couldn’t give an answer. Yet, there was a flurry of 911 calls coming from the school and its students, so I’m sure we’ll learn more about that miscommunication. McCraw admitted this was a grave error. With the benefit of hindsight, this was the wrong decision.
A Texas official now says that the door that the shooter used to enter the school was propped open by a teacher. pic.twitter.com/bYWvHIBXqB
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 27, 2022
A Texas official says that by 11:35 AM there were a total of seven officers on the scene. pic.twitter.com/KeAcluLvgG
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 27, 2022
On February 28, 2022, the shooter was involved in an Instagram group chat discussing him as a school shooter. pic.twitter.com/1U0NiVrImj
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 27, 2022
Texas official: Police didn't enter the school because the "on-scene-commander" wrongly believed "there were no more children at risk."
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 27, 2022
"Obviously, based upon the information we have, there were children in that classroom that were at risk..." pic.twitter.com/k07MUQaK8T
A Texas official continues to try and explain why police decided to wait instead of confront the shooter. pic.twitter.com/LwnRjqBHJW
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 27, 2022
REPORTER: "Are they owed an apology from somebody, be it the incident commander in the police department here?"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 27, 2022
Texas official: "If I thought it would help, I’d apologize." pic.twitter.com/AUGXnxAgZw
REPORTER: "Where was the resource officer? Why was he not on campus?"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 27, 2022
Texas Official: "He was not on campus."
"Why? Where was he?"
"We'll have all those answers down the road." pic.twitter.com/uqlP4ydVoe
The more details come out about the police response, the worse it looks. https://t.co/VQexVad6qe
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) May 27, 2022
NEW- from Texas DPS
— Sonia Azad (@SoniaAzadTV) May 27, 2022
Emotionally charged news conference happening now:
-Suspect had 1000+ Rounds of ammunition
-Suspect had IG group chat in Feb/ March about buying guns
-Back door propped open & was access point
-Girl called 911 asking dispatcher to “please send police now” pic.twitter.com/DkhiEfx1zD
The Texas DPS just told us that there were 19 police officers in the hallway at Robb Elementary who made the decision not to break into the room where children were being shot bc they believed it turned into a barricade situation, while children inside were alive and calling 911.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 27, 2022
Texas DPS says not entering school was wrong:
— William Joy (@WilliamJoy) May 27, 2022
“With the benefit of hindsight, where I’m standing now, of course it was the wrong decision. Period. There is no excuse for that…There should have been an entry as soon as you can…you don’t have time”
(@wfaa)
Texas DPS director now throwing incident commander under the bus. He says it was “the wrong decision” to switch the strategy from an active shooter to a barricaded subject.
— Vince Coglianese (@VinceCoglianese) May 27, 2022
“There was no excuse for that.”
The students were calling 911 over and over from within the classroom.
Texas DPS says that the door the shooter entered at Robb Elementary was propped open by a teacher.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 27, 2022
The school resource officer drove to the campus after hearing the 911 call and drove by the shooter without realizing it. pic.twitter.com/CysNNF6vi2
This exchange between the head of Texas DPS and CNN's @ShimonPro is absolutely devastating. He says the onsite commanding police officer thought the crime scene had become a barricade situation and no longer an active shooter even though people in there were still alive and hurt. pic.twitter.com/qhRpbWZUyy
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 27, 2022
Unfortunately this press conference makes it official: Uvalde Police held up Border Patrol from taking down Ramos while he continued to kill kids despite 911 calls from the kids to help them. A colossal failure that is only being acknowledged now by Texas DPS
— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) May 27, 2022
The Texas DPS head also cleared up some early reports about Ramos’s social media postings. He did not post about his intention to kill his grandmother or shoot up a school publicly. It was sent via messenger. He had asked his sister to help him obtain firearms which she flatly rejected.
Texas law enforcement has been besieged with questions especially since the Associated Press released a video of onlookers and anxious parents urging police to enter the school to stop the rampage. This whole situation is abysmal. Nineteen kids are dead. The police response was bungled. This small border city has been shattered. And to finally hear the police admit that their response to this heinous crime was calamitous probably pours more salt in the wounds.
From top to bottom, this appears to be an absolute failure, but we’ll keep you updated.