Gunman entered Texas elementary school unobstructed, was inside for an hour

The gunman who massacred 19 kids and two lecturers at a Texas elementary school Tuesday was inside for greater than an hour before he was killed in a shootout, law enforcement authorities mentioned Thursday amid mounting public anger and scrutiny over their response to the rampage.

A media briefing called by Texas safety officers to clarify the timeline of the attack provided bits of beforehand unknown information.

By the time it ended, though, it had added to the troubling questions surrounding the attack within the city of Uvalde, together with about the time it took police to reach the scene and confront the gunman, and the obvious failure to lock a college door he entered.

After two days of providing often conflicting information, investigators mentioned that a college district police officer was not inside Robb Elementary when 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos arrived around 11:30 a.m. native time, and, contrary to their earlier studies, the officer had not confronted Ramos outside the building.

As an alternative, they sketched out a timeline notable for unexplained delays by law enforcement in responding to the attack.

Ramos crashed his truck near the back of the school at 11:28 a.m., then fired an AR-style rifle at two individuals coming out of a close-by funeral house, mentioned Victor Escalon, regional director for the Texas Department of Public Security.

Ramos then entered the college "unobstructed" by an apparently unlocked door at about 11:40 a.m., Escalon said.

But the first cops didn't arrive on the scene till 12 minutes after the crash and didn't enter the varsity to pursue the shooter until four minutes after that. Inside, they have been pushed again by gunfire from Ramos and took cowl, Escalon said.

The disaster got here to an end after a group of Border Patrol tactical officers entered the school roughly an hour later, at 12:45 p.m., mentioned Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Travis Considine. They engaged in a shootout with the gunman, who was holed up in a fourth grade classroom. Radio chatter at 12:58 p.m. indicated that he was lifeless.

Within the hour in between, the officers referred to as for backup, negotiators and tactical groups, while evacuating students and teachers, Escalon said.

But he largely ignored questions on why officers weren't able to stop the shooter sooner, saying he had "taken all those questions into consideration" and would offer updates.

Ken Trump, president of the consulting firm National College Safety and Safety Companies, mentioned the length of the timeline raised questions.

"Primarily based on finest practices, it's extremely difficult to understand why there were any types of delays, notably while you get into experiences of 40 minutes and up of getting into to neutralize that shooter," he mentioned.

Many other details of the case and response remained murky. The motive for the bloodbath — the nation's deadliest school capturing since Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., a decade ago — stays below investigation, with authorities saying the gunman had no identified prison or mental well being historical past.

In the course of the siege, pissed off onlookers urged law enforcement officials to cost into the college, in accordance with witnesses.

"Go in there! Go in there!" girls shouted at the officers soon after the attack started, said Juan Carranza, 24, who watched the scene from exterior a home across the street.

Carranza said the officers should have entered the varsity sooner: "There were extra of them. There was simply certainly one of him."

Texas Division of Public Security Director Steve McCraw defended the company Wednesday, saying, "The underside line is legislation enforcement was there. They did engage immediately. They did comprise him in the classroom."

Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz didn't give a timeline however stated repeatedly that the tactical officers from his agency who arrived at the school did not hesitate. He said they moved rapidly to enter the building, lining up in a "stack" behind an agent holding up a protect.

"What we wanted to ensure is to behave quickly, act swiftly, and that's precisely what these brokers did," Ortiz informed Fox News.

But a regulation enforcement official mentioned that when within the building, the Border Patrol brokers had hassle breaching the classroom door and needed to get a workers member to open the room with a key. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as a result of he was not authorized to speak publicly in regards to the investigation.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Lt. Christopher Olivarez informed CNN that investigators had been attempting to establish whether the classroom was, in reality, locked or barricaded ultimately.

Javier Cazares, whose daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, was killed within the assault, said he raced to the varsity when he heard about the capturing. 

When he arrived, he mentioned he noticed two officers outside the school and about 5 others escorting college students out of the constructing. But 15 or 20 minutes passed earlier than the arrival of officers with shields, outfitted to confront the gunman, he said.

As extra parents flocked to the school, he and others pressed police to act, Cazares mentioned. He heard about 4 gunshots before he and the others were ordered back to a car parking zone.

"A number of us were arguing with the police, 'You all must go in there. You all must do your jobs.' Their response was, 'We will not do our jobs because you guys are interfering,"' Cazares stated.

U.S. President Joe Biden and his spouse, Jill, will journey to Uvalde, Texas, on Sunday to console families and honour the victims of Tuesday's shooting.

The White Home said the Bidens would "grieve with the group that lost 21 lives in the horrific" capturing at Robb Elementary Faculty. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated the president would meet with the group, local spiritual leaders and the victims' families.

Making the announcement, Jean-Pierre echoed Biden, who in remarks Tuesday night, spoke from personal expertise in regards to the pain of losing a child, and referred to as on the country to tighten gun legal guidelines in response to the shooting.

'"When in God's identify are we going to face as much as the gun lobby?" he said. "Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why can we maintain letting this occur?"

Earlier than attacking the varsity, Ramos shot and wounded his grandmother at the house they shared.

Neighbour Gilbert Gallegos, 82, who lives throughout the street and has identified the family for many years, mentioned he was puttering in his yard when he heard the pictures.

Gallegos said he noticed a automobile racing away from the house: "He spun out, I mean fast, spraying gravel in the air."

The grandmother quickly emerged from the home, lined in blood.

"She says, 'Berto, this is what he did. He shot me,' " he recalled.

Gallegos mentioned he had heard no arguments before or after the photographs, and knew of no historical past of bullying or abuse within the home.

Front Burner20:06A Sandy Hook mother on another college taking pictures