Texas police admit to failed shooting response; say kids in room with gunman called 911

Texas's top public safety official said officers on the scene failed to follow protocol at the Uvalde elementary school shooting, with officers standing in the hallway as children in the classroom called for help.

At a Friday afternoon press conference, state Director of Public Safety Steven McCraw said that 19 officers stood in the hallway outside the fourth grade classrooms on Tuesday while students called for help. The on-site commander, school district Police Chief Pete Arredondo, thought there was no longer a threat to the children inside, so he waited for nearly an hour to break the door open.

It was the wrong decision, from the benefit of hindsight. There is no excuse for that. I am telling you that we believe there should be an entry as soon as possible.

It was believed at the time that the subject was barricaded and there was no risk to other children.

According to Texas active-shooter doctrine, police should have engaged the shooter and killed him. The students in the room were calling for help as they stood outside the classroom, where 19 students and two teachers were killed. After a Border Patrol tactical team arrived, law enforcement broke into the classroom and killed the man after the janitor unlocked the door.

When it comes to an active shooter, you don't have to wait for tactical gear. If shooting continues and you have any reason to believe that people are still alive, you have got an obligation.

He shared details of at least eight calls made by students inside the classrooms before police arrived. He said the first student called at 12:03 p.m., and the calls continued for more than 45 minutes, during which operators could hear gunfire over the phone. A girl called to report that eight to nine students were alive. She called back 30 minutes later and said she could hear officers outside the classroom.

She said to send the police now.

The word of the calls was not relayed to the officers as they stood outside. If I thought it would help, I would apologize to the parents of the children who died.

In an interview with CNN, 11-year-old Miah Cerrillo said that she and a friend were able to grab her dead teacher's phone and call for help. She said she asked for help because they were in trouble.

As Miah lay there, she thought the police had not yet arrived at the school. She overheard that police were outside the school. When she spoke about it, she started crying and said she didn't understand why the police didn't come inside and get the children.

A senior government official who conducts active-shooter trainings at schools told Yahoo News that the responding officers broke every protocol put in place after the 1999 shooting at Colorado's Columbine High School.

The pre-Columbine protocol was what they did. They broke every rule in the book when they went in, the official said. They did everything wrong.

The official said the decision to wait 45 minutes for a janitor to open the door cost lives.

The official said that you can break a door in 15 seconds. If you don't have bomb guys, you shoot the door, shoot the lock, and get in that way.

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There was no school district police officer present at the Friday press conference. The officials originally reported that the man was wearing body armor.

The New York Times reported that federal agents arrived on the scene between noon and 12:10 p.m., but that the Uvalde Police Department kept them from going in sooner.

A Border Patrol source with knowledge of the Uvalde response told Yahoo News that the team that responded to the shooting was told to wait, but they wanted to go.

The unlocked door was believed to have been the reason why the teen entered the school.

In February 2020 the Uvalde Police Department posted a photo of its SWAT team with assault rifles and said they would be visiting local schools and businesses.

Parents who could still hear gunshots were pushing law enforcement outside of the school to do something. Parents are being handcuffed outside as they plead with officers to act. A video posted to social media shows police restraining parents outside the school and holding one person on the ground.

Video from the scene of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, shows police pushing back community members demanding answers, some of whom claim to be parents of students inside.

The father of Jacklyn Cazares, who was killed in the attack, told the Washington Post that police officers told them to move back after hearing gunshots. We wanted to destroy the building. We wanted to get our babies out because we were so worried.

The law enforcement response was praised by Abbott, who said it could have been worse. Law enforcement officials did what they were trained to do. They ran toward gunfire for the purpose of saving lives. They were able to save lives because of their quick response getting on the scene and being able to eliminate the shooter. Not enough.

In an interview with San Antonio outlet KENS 5, a fourth graders said that police officers may have caused another child to get shot by hiding from the shooter.

When the cops came, the cop said, "Yell if you need help!" and one of the people in my class said, "Help." The guy shot at the cop. The cops started shooting.

The Texas Department of Public Safety lieutenant told CNN that officers didn't act because they could have been shot and killed.

Uvalde Police Chief Daniel Rodriguez has yet to give a public briefing but issued a written statement Thursday which said that police had responded within minutes.