9-year-old Daniel, along with his mother Briana Ruiz, told CNN that the attacker fired several shots in his classroom after he could not enter. The door was locked by his teacher and the bullets fired struck the teacher as well as a classmate.
Daniel survived by first “hiding under a table by the wall.” He said he saw the shooter through the door window.
“I could still see his face,” the boy said. I could see him staring at the people in front of me.
Later, Daniel escaped from a broken window to escape by cutting his hand on a glass, he said, and both wounded in his class would survive.
But his cousin Eli Garcia was in another classroom. She was one of 19 children and two teachers killed in the worst school shooting in a decade, and less than a week later, major questions remain about the timeliness of law enforcement response and whether more children could have been saved. The Texas Public Safety Department set a schedule for Tuesday’s shooting, showing that the shooter had been in a classroom with students for more than an hour before being shot and killed by a Border Patrol Tactical Response Team. Officers arrived at the school within minutes, but the scene commander decided to wait more than an hour for reinforcements, even as the children locked in the shooter’s room called 911 and asked police for help.
The video, shot from outside the school during the incident received by ABC News, includes what appears to be the sending of audio information officers to the scene where a child called 911 from a classroom.
“Advise us to have a child online,” says the dispatcher. “The child advises that he is in a room full of victims.”
The video shows that the police at the scene were informed that at least one child remained alive in the classrooms.
CNN was unable to verify the video / audio itself. The source of the video is unclear and it is not clear at what point in the incident the sound was heard. CNN turned to the authorities to answer questions about this audio.
DPS Texas Director Steve McCrow told reporters Friday that there were at least eight 911 calls from at least two individual callers inside the school, covering a period of nearly 50 minutes. The decision to treat the incident at the scene as a barricaded suspect rather than an active shooter was “wrong,” he said.
Funeral services for two victims are also expected to be held at local funeral homes on Monday. A visit and rosary for 10-year-old Ameri Joe Garza will be held Monday at the Hillcrest Memorial House, and services for 10-year-old Maite Juliana Rodriguez will be held at Rushing Estes Knowles.
The response of the law enforcement authorities is questionable
Alfred Garcia, whose daughter was killed in the shooting, told CNN he was “unbelieving” how long it was during the shooting before it ended, and shared his disappointment with the authorities’ response.
“You don’t need a genius to understand that it just took too much time to get there and, do you know if they had reached earlier and someone would have taken immediate action, today we may have more than these children here, including my daughter, “he said.
Texas law enforcement officials are trained to intervene quickly, according to CNN Guidelines for Active Shooters at the U.S. Law Enforcement Training Commission 2020. The management states that “the officer’s first priority is to enter and confront the attacker.”
“As the first to react, we must recognize that the innocent life must be protected,” it said. “The one who reacts first, who does not want to put the lives of the innocent above his own safety, should consider another area of his career.
Seven police officers arrived at the scene within two minutes after the shooter fired into the classroom. Three police officers approached the locked classroom where the shooter was, and two police officers received bullet wounds fired behind the door, the MRF reported. The police then settled in the corridor.
Border patrol agents belonging to a specialized unit arrived at the scene around 12:15 pm, approximately 45 minutes after the attacker started firing. The police officer in charge has already ruled that the site is barricaded in the room, according to a source familiar with the situation.
After that, the team did not break the classroom for at least another 30 minutes, according to the schedule provided by DPS. A call to 911, made at 12:16 a.m., according to DPS, by a girl in one of the classrooms told the operator that eight or nine students were still alive.
The delayed police response in Uwalde contradicts the well-established, often-taught active shooter protocol established after the 1999 Columbine School shooting, experts said.
“Even under fire, officers are trained to deal with this threat because every second counts,” said Jonathan Wacrow, a law enforcement analyst with CNN. “What we saw here was that the delay cost the lives of the children, period.
At the request of the mayor of Uwalde, the US Department of Justice has announced that it will investigate the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
“The purpose of the review is to provide an independent report on the actions and responses of law enforcement authorities on that day, as well as to identify lessons learned and best practices to help first responders prepare and respond to active shooters.” said in a statement to the DOJ on Sunday. .
The DOJ is expected to select someone to lead the review in the next few days, according to two sources familiar with the process. The Ministry of Justice has traditionally relied on people outside the Ministry of Justice with experience in law enforcement and on-site experience with mass victim events to perform such examinations.
The department conducted similar inspections after mass shootings in San Bernardino, California, in December 2015, and at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in June 2016.
Biden hopes “rational” Republicans can agree to gun reform
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden visited Uwalde on Sunday to pay their respects by attending a liturgy and laying flowers at the memorial. The two also met privately with members of the victims’ families, as well as with first aid workers. In an interview with CNN affiliate KSAT, Texas Sen. Roland Gutierrez said Biden told him “we will seek to demolish this school, build a new one.” Gutierrez said there is a federal grant process for schools like Columbine and other schools to destroy those schools.Sandy Hook Elementary was rebuilt after the 2012 shooting, for example.
“What kind of world do we live in that legislation is designed to destroy these schools?” Gutierrez asked during the interview.
According to Gutierrez, Biden also told him: “I will not leave … I will bring you resources … try to get real money for mental health care.” There is only one psychiatrist in Uwalde, according to the senator.
Biden was optimistic Monday that some “rational” Republicans could agree to some sort of new gun restrictions.
“I think things have gone so bad that everyone is becoming more rational about it. At least that’s my hope and prayer, “Biden told White House reporters.
Biden, in his most extensive comments on gun control after last week’s killings, said he was limited in the steps he could take on his own.
“There is the Constitution. I can’t dictate these things. I can do the things I did, and I will continue to do whatever executive action I can take. But I can’t ban weapons, I can’t change background checks. I can’t do that, “he said.
The community is coming together
After the shooting, there was support for people in the community.
Carlos Hernandez, whose restaurant is a mile from Robb Elementary, wrote on Facebook hours after the shooting: “There is no way I can open my kitchen with a broken heart and have fun doing it.”
On Thursday, his 33rd birthday, Hernandez decided to cook for the community by preparing favorite dishes, including wings, poppy seeds and cheese, and fried fish tacos.
Within two hours, Hernandez distributed more than 60 family plates to feed grieving families and neighbors who are still learning how to deal with the tragedy of their close-knit community.
“It’s a really difficult situation, I’m just trying to show the kids that they have us as a backbone and a support system,” Hernandez told CNN. “We always provide, whether there is an accident or not.”
Elsewhere in Uwalde, the El Progreso Memorial Library has become a place of healing.
On Wednesday, just a day after the shooting, children’s librarian Martha Careon sat in front of rows of young people reading, singing and giggling with the children, taking them to a safe place away from the school, where many witnessed in horror.
“We want our building to be a safe space, a refuge that is a quiet, peaceful and cool refuge,” Mendel Morgan, director of the El Progreso Memorial Library, told CNN.
In addition to psychologists, who will be available every weekday to talk to children and adults, there will be massage practitioners, volunteers for arts and crafts, pianists to play soothing music, and even magicians to perform professional magic. the show.
“This is a strong community where we have real care and concern for each other,” Morgan said. “Many, if not most here, hold fast to their faith, believing in God that good is stronger than evil, and light is stronger than darkness.
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