Gunman entered Texas elementary school unobstructed, was inside for an hour

The gunman who massacred 19 youngsters and two teachers at a Texas elementary college Tuesday was inside for more than an hour earlier than he was killed in a shootout, law enforcement authorities said Thursday amid mounting public anger and scrutiny over their response to the rampage.

A media briefing known as by Texas security officials to make clear the timeline of the attack supplied bits of beforehand unknown information.

By the time it ended, though, it had added to the troubling questions surrounding the assault within the city of Uvalde, together with concerning the time it took police to reach the scene and confront the gunman, and the apparent failure to lock a college door he entered.

After two days of offering usually conflicting info, investigators mentioned that a college district police officer was not inside Robb Elementary when 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos arrived round 11:30 a.m. native time, and, contrary to their previous stories, the officer had not confronted Ramos outside the building.

As an alternative, they sketched out a timeline notable for unexplained delays by law enforcement in responding to the attack.

Ramos crashed his truck close to the again of the school at 11:28 a.m., then fired an AR-style rifle at two folks coming out of a close-by funeral home, stated Victor Escalon, regional director for the Texas Department of Public Security.

Ramos then entered the varsity "unobstructed" through an apparently unlocked door at about 11:40 a.m., Escalon stated.

But the first police officers did not arrive on the scene till 12 minutes after the crash and didn't enter the school to pursue the shooter until four minutes after that. Inside, they were driven again by gunfire from Ramos and took cowl, Escalon mentioned.

The disaster got here to an end after a bunch of Border Patrol tactical officers entered the college roughly an hour later, at 12:45 p.m., said Texas Department of Public Security spokesperson Travis Considine. They engaged in a shootout with the gunman, who was holed up in a fourth grade classroom. Radio chatter at 12:58 p.m. indicated that he was dead.

In the hour in between, the officers known as for backup, negotiators and tactical teams, while evacuating students and academics, Escalon stated.

But he largely ignored questions about why officers were not able to stop the shooter sooner, saying he had "taken all those questions into consideration" and would offer updates.

Ken Trump, president of the consulting agency National School Security and Safety Services, mentioned the length of the timeline raised questions.

"Based on finest practices, it's extremely obscure why there were any varieties of delays, particularly while you get into stories of 40 minutes and up of entering into to neutralize that shooter," he stated.

Many different particulars of the case and response remained murky. The motive for the massacre — the nation's deadliest college capturing since Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., a decade ago — remains underneath investigation, with authorities saying the gunman had no identified felony or mental well being history.

Throughout the siege, annoyed onlookers urged cops to charge into the school, in response to witnesses.

"Go in there! Go in there!" girls shouted at the officers quickly after the assault started, stated Juan Carranza, 24, who watched the scene from outdoors a house throughout the street.

Carranza stated the officers should have entered the varsity sooner: "There have been more of them. There was just one in every of him."

Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw defended the agency Wednesday, saying, "The underside line is regulation enforcement was there. They did engage instantly. They did contain him in the classroom."

Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz didn't give a timeline however stated repeatedly that the tactical officers from his company who arrived at the college did not hesitate. He said they moved shortly to enter the constructing, lining up in a "stack" behind an agent holding up a defend.

"What we wished to make sure is to act quickly, act swiftly, and that is exactly what those agents did," Ortiz told Fox Information.

However a regulation enforcement official said that after within the building, the Border Patrol agents had trouble breaching the classroom door and needed to get a employees member to open the room with a key. The official spoke on situation of anonymity because he was not licensed to talk publicly about the investigation.

Department of Public Security spokesman Lt. Christopher Olivarez told CNN that investigators were making an attempt to determine whether or not the classroom was, in reality, locked or barricaded not directly.

Javier Cazares, whose daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, was killed in the assault, stated he raced to the college when he heard in regards to the taking pictures. 

When he arrived, he said he noticed two officers exterior the college and about 5 others escorting students out of the building. However 15 or 20 minutes passed earlier than the arrival of officers with shields, outfitted to confront the gunman, he said.

As more mother and father flocked to the school, he and others pressed police to behave, Cazares said. He heard about four gunshots earlier than he and the others have been ordered again to a parking lot.

"Loads of us have been arguing with the police, 'You all have to go in there. You all must do your jobs.' Their response was, 'We will not do our jobs because you guys are interfering,"' Cazares said.

U.S. President Joe Biden and his spouse, Jill, will journey to Uvalde, Texas, on Sunday to console households and honour the victims of Tuesday's taking pictures.

The White Home said the Bidens would "grieve with the neighborhood that misplaced 21 lives within the horrific" capturing at Robb Elementary School. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the president would meet with the neighborhood, local non secular leaders and the victims' households.

Making the announcement, Jean-Pierre echoed Biden, who in remarks Tuesday night, spoke from private expertise in regards to the pain of dropping a child, and referred to as on the country to tighten gun legal guidelines in response to the shooting.

'"When in God's title are we going to stand as much as the gun foyer?" he said. "Why are we willing to reside with this carnage? Why will we hold letting this happen?"

Earlier than attacking the varsity, Ramos shot and wounded his grandmother at the home they shared.

Neighbour Gilbert Gallegos, 82, who lives across the road and has identified the household for decades, mentioned he was puttering in his yard when he heard the shots.

Gallegos stated he noticed a automobile racing away from the house: "He spun out, I imply fast, spraying gravel in the air."

The grandmother quickly emerged from the home, lined in blood.

"She says, 'Berto, this is what he did. He shot me,' " he recalled.

Gallegos said he had heard no arguments before or after the pictures, and knew of no historical past of bullying or abuse within the home.

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