New footage and transcripts released from the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas have sparked horror and outrage – as it was revealed that Uvalde police, who had body armour and ballistic shields, could have stopped the shooter ‘within three minutes’. It has also been disclosed that the door to the classroom was never locked, and no attempt was made to open it.
School police chief Pete Arredondo has been accused of ‘allowing’ the tragedy to happen – with relatives of those killed asking how and why, as it emerged that law enforcement provided inconsistent information to the public about the events that took place on 24th May.
Security footage shows officers waiting to engage – revealing that police did not attempt to open the door to two adjoining classrooms at the elementary school in the 77 minutes that passed from the time the gunman entered the classrooms to when officers finally entered, according to footage seen by San Antonio Express News.
BREAKING: Multiple officers were inside Robb Elementary School with rifles and at least one ballistic shield at 11:52 a.m. the day of the shooting, new video and other evidence shows. They didn’t enter the classroom for another 58 minutes. More soon via @statesman and @KVUE. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/0BcYgq2hcQ
— Tony Plohetski (@tplohetski) June 20, 2022
Police chief for Uvalde School district, Pete Arredondo, told the newspaper that he attempted to open the door using keys, later using his phone to call for tactical gear, a sniper and keys to access the classroom from the hallway of Robb Elementary. However, his account conflicts with a law enforcement source, who told Express News that Mr Arredondo was not actually trying to use keys to open the two classrooms, 111 and 112, where Ramos had locked himself inside.
The Tribune reviewed footage from inside the school, which did not show police officers trying to open the doors of the classrooms, either. The report also said that a special agent at the Texas Department of Public Safety, who made it to the school roughly 20 minutes after the massacre started, asked if there were still children alive in the classrooms.
The agent reportedly urged the officers to enter, saying: “If there is, then they just need to go in”. However, he was told that officials were unsure if there were still children alive and trapped in the classroom.
“Y’all don’t know if there’s kids in there?” the agent asked, adding: “If there’s kids in there we need to go in there” according to the Tribune.
In response, he was simply told that the officer in command would determine if and when officers would enter. The revelations follow testimonies from desperate parents who arrived at the school – and were prevented from entering by police.
One mother who ended up jumping a fence and running inside the school building to save her children, last month said police at first handcuffed her when she arrived on the scene.
New material has also revealed that officers had various weapons and tools at their disposal, which they did not use.
The Tribune reported that responding law enforcement officers who waited in the hallway outside the classrooms had access to a Halligan bar – a “crowbar like” tool which could have opened a locked door. It is alleged that police waited in the corridors despite having “high-powered” weapons and ballistic shields, and hearing the crazed gunman continue to fire rounds of ammunition.
The Austin American-Statesman reports that they persisted in waiting even when the gunman was heard at 12:21pm – almost half an hour before officers entered the classroom and he was killed – according to transcripts.
Outlets including the Associated Press reported on Tuesday that the classroom door was not locked – contrary to previous reports. This is according to the Texas public safety chief. Police chief Arredondo had previously indicated that police waited for a key to open the classroom doors.
There has been confusion about who exactly made the call not to act, and there has been contention about Arredondo and his role in the shooting. In an interview earlier this month, the school police chief said that he did not consider himself the on-scene incident commander during the shooting. However, the Tribune has asserted that some of the officers present believed Arredondo was the one in command – and he was reportedly issuing commands at times, which conflicts with his own claims.
Footage also shows that around 11 officers had entered the school and at least two were filmed carrying rifles, however, according to a transcript reviewed by the Tribune, Arredondo said they did not have the firepower to confront the lone gunman.
“OK, we have him in the room,” he said, according to the paper. “He’s got an AR-15. He’s shot a lot. He’s in the room. He hasn’t come out yet. We’re surrounded, but I don’t have a radio”.
Calling dispatch after he and other officers entered the schools, Arredondo called for SWOT teams to be set up, and according to a transcript, stating: “Yes and they need to be outside of this building prepared,” he said. “Because we don’t have enough firepower right now. It’s all pistols and he has an AR-15. If you can get the SWAT team set up, by the funeral home, OK, we need — yes, I need some more firepower in here because we all have pistols and this guy’s got a rifle. So I don’t have a radio. I don’t have a radio. If somebody can come in —”
In the wake of the new information, Texas’s public safety chief called the police response an “abject failure” during a state Senate hearing this week.
Steven McCraw told the public hearing that there were enough police officers on the scene to have stopped Salvador Ramos just three minutes after he entered Robb Elementary.
McCraw accused Arredondo of prioritising the lives of officers above the children trapped in the classroom, meaning they waited for over an hour before a team made entry.
Mr McCraw, Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), said:
“The officers had weapons, the children had none. The officers had body armour; the children had none. The officers had training, the subject had none. One hour, 14 minutes, and eight seconds – that is how long the children waited, and the teachers waited, in Room 111 to be rescued.
“Three minutes after the subject entered the west building, there was a sufficient number of armed officers wearing body armour to isolate, distract and neutralise the subject”.
Uvalde officers could have stopped the gunman at Robb Elementary School within 3 minutes of him entering the building, says Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw https://t.co/T5GFQVowKY pic.twitter.com/WyFi3SYTqG
— Bloomberg Originals (@bbgoriginals) June 21, 2022