Multiple failures on the part of law enforcement to stop the shooter who went on kill nineteen children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas was revealed during a press conference on Friday.
Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McGraw said prior to the gunman crashing his vehicle and started shooting, a teacher propped open the door the suspect would eventually used to enter Robb Elementary. The shooter fired over 20 rounds prior to entering the school. When the 9-1-1 was made about a shooting near the school, a school resource officer, who was not originally on campus, drove past him because he was kneeling down by a car.
McGraw could not explain why the officer was not on campus.
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
After the shooter entered the building through the propped door at 11:33 A.M., over 19 officers had arrived at the scene. Members of Border Patrol's elite BORTAC arrived at 12:15 P.M. but were denied entry to the school by Uvalde police, according to the New York Times. Officers were in the hallway outside the room the shooter was in prior to breaching the door.
The chief of police for the school district was the on-scene commander and McGraw said he made the erroneously believed the situation changed from an active shooter to a "barricaded subject" after containing him to a classroom. This is in spite of children making 9-1-1 calls saying they were still in danger.
"Of course it was not the right decision. It was the wrong decision," McGraw said.
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
Texas official: The decision to not breach the classroom was made by the Chief of Police for the school district.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 27, 2022
"He was convinced at that time that there was no more threat to the children...and that they had time to organize..." pic.twitter.com/TKRmatNfWO
Officers finally made a breach of the room the shooter was in just before 1:00 P.M. and killed him. The updated timeline is in stark contrast to the information that was originally, where authorities said police engaged the shooter prior to entering the school.