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Gov. Greg Abbott will address the Uwalde public on Friday over the shooting at Rob Elementary School this week, which killed 21 people, including 19 students and two teachers. Abbott’s appearance comes hours after state law enforcement said local police monitoring the massacre’s response made significant mistakes.
Police had not taken action earlier to stop the 18-year-old gunman because a scene supervisor wanted to wait for a backup and equipment, said Stephen McCrow, director of the Texas Public Safety Department. By the time a specialized team of federal officials arrived and entered the school – they had to take keys from a doorman to open locked classroom doors – it had been more than an hour since the shooter arrived at the school, McCrow said.
“Of course it wasn’t the right decision,” McCrow said. “It was the wrong decision.”
McCrow also provided a more detailed chronology of what happened that day, including calls to 911 teachers and students caught inside with the shooter.
In the days following the massacre, DPS and Abbott officers disseminated conflicting information, including whether the shooter had met a police officer hired from the school district before attacking through the back door. Authorities later said there was no officer on campus when the shooter arrived and that he entered the building without resistance.
The day after the shooting, Abbott praised law enforcement for their role in the shooting.
“It could have been worse. The reason it’s not worse is that law enforcement has done what they do,” he said at the time.
Watch Abbott live courtesy of KXAS (NBC DFW) from 3:30 p.m. CT.
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