Sources: Videos, law enforcement officers and a former student familiar with the location of the school. Graphics: New York Times. Licensed by Axios
At least eight calls to 911 were made from classrooms at Robb Elementary School in Uwalde, Texas, between 12:03 a.m. – half an hour after the 18-year-old gunman entered the building Tuesday – and around 12:50 p.m. when Border Patrol agents and police finally stormed in and shot him.
Why it matters: Local and government law enforcement officials in Texas are facing intense criticism for why it took so long for officers to stand up and stop the shooter Uwalde in two connected fourth-grade classrooms.
What we know:
- The commander on the spot, the head of the Uwalde school district police department, said the shooter had been barricaded in the classrooms and that the children were no longer at immediate risk.
- “It was the wrong decision, period,” Stephen McCrow, Texas’s head of public safety, told a briefing Friday.
- Standard law enforcement protocols require police to confront an active school shooter without delay, instead of waiting for reinforcements or more firepower. McCrow, whose voice was sometimes choked with emotion, said: “We are here to report the facts, not to defend what has been done,” according to Reuters.
- Most of the children trapped by the shooter were 9 or 10 years old.
- During a one-minute call at 12:03, a girl whispered that she was in Room 112 – more than 45 minutes before a Border Patrol tactical team used the doorman’s key to open one of the locked classroom doors.
- Videos show frightened parents outside the school calling on police to storm the building during the attack, some of whom must be detained by police.
What we don’t know:
- How many children could be saved, as medical experts stress that badly wounded victims of firearms must be evacuated to a trauma center within 60 minutes – a period of time that emergency doctors call the “golden hour” , according to Reuters.
- Why a more experienced commander from a larger agency did not take over. The police are located in front of the home of the police chief in the school district Uwalde Pete Aredondo, who is said to have made the fateful decision to wait, the AP reports.
- Why officials did not clarify earlier.
What follows: Delaying the confrontation with the shooter could lead to discipline, lawsuits and even criminal charges against the police, according to the AP.
Go deeper: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he was “misled” on Uvalde’s timeline
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