Uvalde School District Will Not Take Disciplinary Actions Against Police Chief Who Delayed Orders To Reprimand The 18-Year-Old Shooter

Head of the Texas Department of Public Safety Says Officers Responding to Uvalde Should Have Entered Sooner

The head of the Texas Department of Public Safety said that law enforcement officers should have gone into the classroom sooner when they responded to the Uvalde, Texas massacre that left 19 children and two teachers dead.

The commander who was at the scene of the tragedy at Robb Elementary School decided the incident had transitioned into a “barricaded suspect” situation—not an “active shooter” — which was a decision that Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said was the wrong one while speaking during the Friday news conference.

“From the benefit of hindsight, where I’m sitting now, of course, it was not the right decision. It was the wrong decision. Period. There’s no excuse for that,” McCraw said.

The 18-year-old gunman entered the school at 11:33 a.m. Tuesday, however, officers did not enter the classroom where he was holed up until 12:50 p.m., McCraw added. During that time,  911 received multiple calls from students inside the classrooms, McCraw said. The students said they were alive and asked for police to come in and help.

However, the commander “was convinced at the time that there was no more threat to the children and that the subject was barricaded and that they had time to organize with the proper equipment to go in,” McCraw continued.

“Based upon the information we have, there were children in that classroom that was at risk, and it was in fact still an active shooter situation, and not a barricaded subject,” McCraw said.

The first call to 911 call about the gunman came at 11:30 a.m. just after he crashed into a ditch near the school and calls from students inside the school began at 12:03 p.m., USA Today reported.

The first call from a student lasted a minute and 20 seconds, with her whispering and saying she was in Room 112, McCraw said. Then other calls came from the same student, one at 12:10 p.m. in which she advised that multiple people were dead, another at 12:13 p.m., and then again at 12:16 p.m. informing them that eight to nine students were alive.

Other calls came in from students letting law enforcement know what was going on. Gunshots could be heard during the calls.

911 received a call at 12:36 p.m. from the first student that lasted 21 seconds, McCraw said. The student “was told to stay on the line and be very quiet,” he said. The caller told the operator, “he shot the door.”

At 12:43 p.m. and 12:47 p.m., the student asked “please send the police now” and then at 12:46 p.m. she said she “could hear the police next door,” McCraw said.

“Clearly there were kids in the room. Clearly, they were at risk,” McCraw said.

At 12:50 p.m., McCraw said police killed the gunman. Audio of shots being fired was heard, and a minute later there was audio of what sounded like officers moving students from the room.

Before entering the school, the gunman crashed his vehicle into a ditch near the school at 11:28 a.m. and fired shots at the building when he was approached by two men from a nearby funeral home approached, according to the timeline. A school resource officer arrived at the school but instead confronted a teacher, not the shooter, at the back of the building.

The gunman entered the building through a door a teacher that was left propped open and began shooting into adjoining classrooms at 11:33 a.m., McCraw said. At least 100 rounds were discharged, investigators determined based on audio evidence.

Three police officers from the Uvalde Police Department went into the school within two minutes and were met with four others, three from the police department and one sheriff’s deputy, McCraw said.

Two of the officers who first entered the school were grazed by bullets from the suspect in an initial encounter with him, and after that, officers did not engage the suspect for more than an hour, according to McCraw’s timeline. 

The gunman fired again at 11:37 a.m., 11:38 a.m., 11:40 a.m., and 11:44 a.m., McCraw said. More police arrived by 11:51 a.m. and by 12:03 p.m. there were as many as 19 police officers in the school hallway. Before they breached, police got keys from a janitor because the two classroom doors were locked.

Members of the Border Patrol Tactical Unit came on the scene at 12:15 p.m. and at 12:21, the same time McCraw said the suspect was said to have fired at the door, police moved down the hallway. They breached and killed the suspect at 12:50 p.m. inside Room 111, McCraw said.

Dozens of magazines were found along the suspect’s path, including inside his home, at the site where he crashed his vehicle, around the school, on the ground of a classroom, and inside his rifle. He had more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, including 142 spent cartridges that were found inside the school. McCraw said there were 35 spent law enforcement cartridges, eight in the hallway, and 27 in the classroom where the suspect was killed.

About Crystal Gross

Crystal joined BallerAlert in 2020 to renew her passion for writing. She is a Kentucky native who now lives in the heart of Atlanta. She enjoys reading, politics, traveling, and of course writing.

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