Reports say Uvalde Police stood outside Robb Elementary School for nearly an hour while Salvador Ramos rampaged inside, murdering 19 children and 2 adults.
Witnesses who were at the scene as the massacre happened are saying that people waiting outside Robb Elementary School were begging police to try and stop the shooter. Some were even stopped when they suggested they take it upon themselves to attempt to overpower the gunman.
Javier Cazares, whose daughter died in the attack, urged the bystanders to “rush in because the cops aren’t doing anything like they are supposed to. More could have been done. They were unprepared.”
“There was at least 40 lawmen armed to the teeth but didn’t do a darn thing [until] it was far too late,” Cazares, the father of 10-year-old victim Jackie Cazares, told ABC News.
Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw said the gunman could have been in the school for 40 minutes to an hour.
Ramos was able to gain entry to the elementary school through an unlocked door. According to the police, there was no resource officer or security at the school to stop him.
It took a Border Patrol team tactical team to do anything. They showed up and managed to eliminate the threat. Border Patrol agents were in the area because Uvalde is near the Mexican border.
A person who spoke on condition of anonymity said Border Patrol had trouble opening the locked door and a staff member had to get a key.
Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw said the gunman could have been in the school for 40 minutes to an hour.
“The bottom line is law enforcement was there,” McCraw said. “They did engage immediately. They did contain (Ramos) in the classroom.”
So the police “contained” someone who was mentally ill with guns in a room with a bunch of children?
All those killed were reportedly in the same classroom.
Juan Carranza, who witnessed the event, believed police should have charged sooner. “There were more of them. There was just one of him,” he said.
US Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said in a Wednesday interview with CNN that as soon as the Border Patrol officers arrived, “they didn’t hesitate.”
“They didn’t hesitate. They came up with a plan,” Ortiz told the outlet. “They entered that classroom and they took care of the situation as quickly as they possibly could.”
While it’s great that Border Patrol officers entered the building, why didn’t the police officers who were on the scene? Why did it take them so long to eliminate the threat? And why would they contain him in a classroom full of children?
What makes this entire thing even worse is that it’s confirmed some of the Uvalde Police officers saved their own children while ignoring the pleas of parents outside and stopping others from entering the building.
A police officer admitted that the police went inside the school to save their children first rather than stop the shooter.
The officer said, “There [were] some police officers’ families trying to get their kids out of school because it was an active shooter situation.”
VANESSA CROIX: And we’ve also heard word that a Border Patrol agent was struck with gunfire. A few officers shot. We’ve heard that some law enforcement officers actually went into school to get their kids out. Can you talk about that?
LT. CHRISTOPHER OLIVAREZ: Right. So what we do know, Vanessa, right now, that there was some police officers, families trying to get their children out of school because it was a active shooter situation right now. It’s a terrible situation right now. And of course, just as we mentioned, the loss of life. It’s just a terrible, it’s a terrible tragedy of another took place. But again, we’ve got to keep acknowledging those brave men and women that actually were there on scene that met this suspect. And, of course, we know that they were met with gunfire. Some of them were shot. But at the end of this, the suspect was shot, is now deceased. The threat is now neutralized.
