Law enforcement officers speak together outside of Robb Elementary School following the mass shooting on May 24, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images New surveillance footage reviewed by KVUE provides new insight into the Uvalde shooting response. Several armed officers waited inside the school for more than an hour before entering the besieged classroom.
Officers were armed with two rifles and a ballistic shield but still didn’t confront the gunman. Multiple heavily-armed police officers were inside Robb Elementary School for nearly an hour before they entered the classroom where an 18-year-old gunman had killed 21 people, including 19 children and two teachers earlier this year, according to new surveillance footage. The Austin American-Statesman and KVUE on Monday obtained new footage from the May 24 scene that shows several officers armed with rifles and at least one ballistic shield were inside the building 19 minutes after the 18-year-old shooter entered the school.
But according to the outlet’s review of the video, those authorities waited nearly another hour to enter the besieged classroom, even as children called 911 begging for help. The revelation casts further scrutiny on the much-criticized law enforcement response to the tragedy that unfolded in Uvalde, Texas, nearly a month ago. Local and state police have come under scrutiny for the slow response, which saw officers wait more than 70 minutes to confront the gunman, as well as authorities’ frequently-changing story in the aftermath of the attack.
Eleven officers were inside the school within three minutes of the gunman, who had walked into a classroom and begun shooting around 11:33 a. m. , according to footage reviewed by KVUE.
After authorities entered the building, the shooter opened fire at responding officers, prompting them to run toward either end of the hallway, according to The Texas Tribune. Moments later, District Police Chief Pete Arredondo called the Uvalde Police Department’s dispatch on his cellphone, according to The Tribune’s reconstructed timeline. According to the outlet, surveillance footage shows that at least two of the 11 officers inside the school at that point were carrying rifles.
But when Arredondo spoke to the dispatcher, he said the responding officers didn’t have enough firepower to confront the gunman. Within a minute of the start of the 11:40 a. m.
call, the gunman once again began shooting. But the police inside the building ultimately waited another hour and 10 minutes before finally entering the classroom at 12:50 p. m.
, according to the newspaper. Body camera footage obtained by KVUE shows the officer carrying the first ballistic shield entered the building at 11:52 a. m.
, as other responding officers grew impatient. One officer who arrived about 20 minutes after the shooting started immediately asked if there were still kids inside, according to transcripts of body camera footage reviewed by The Tribune. “If there is, then they just need to go in,” a special agent at the Texas Department of Public Safety said.
Another officer responded that it was unknown if there were still children inside the classroom. “Y’all don’t know if there’s kids in there?” the first officer said. “If there’s kids in there, we need to go in there.
“”Whoever is in charge will determine that,” someone replied. According to KVUE, body camera footage suggests that during the wait, Arredondo was trying to secure keys to open the conjoining classrooms. Officials, however, say they don’t believe officers ever tried to open the door and no security footage from inside the building shows any officers attempting to open either door to the attached classrooms, The Tribune reported.
Arredondo previously told the outlet that he had tried to open one of the doors and other officers had attempted the other but found the door to be impenetrable. A second ballistic shield entered the building at 12:03 p. m.
shortly followed by a third. Around 12:20 p. m.
, Arredondo reportedly wondered out loud if officers could potentially shoot the gunman through the classroom’s windows. SWAT officers arrived soon thereafter and Arredondo told them at 12:46 p. m.
that they should enter the classroom whenever they were ready, according to KVUE. The US Border Patrol tactical team ultimately killed the gunman. Read the original article on Insider.
From: insider
URL: https://www.insider.com/armed-officers-inside-robb-elementary-waited-hour-to-enter-classroom-2022-6
