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

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

A media briefing known as by Texas security officers to clarify the timeline of the attack offered bits of previously unknown data.

By the time it ended, although, it had added to the troubling questions surrounding the assault in the city of Uvalde, together with in regards to the time it took police to succeed in the scene and confront the gunman, and the apparent failure to lock a faculty door he entered.

After two days of providing often conflicting information, investigators stated that a school district police officer was not inside Robb Elementary when 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos arrived around 11:30 a.m. local time, and, opposite to their previous experiences, the officer had not confronted Ramos outside the constructing.

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

Ramos crashed his truck close to the again of the college at 11:28 a.m., then fired an AR-style rifle at two individuals popping out of a close-by funeral residence, mentioned Victor Escalon, regional director for the Texas Department of Public Security.

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

However the first police officers didn't arrive on the scene until 12 minutes after the crash and didn't enter the school to pursue the shooter until 4 minutes after that. Inside, they have been driven back by gunfire from Ramos and took cowl, Escalon mentioned.

The disaster got here to an finish after a group of Border Patrol tactical officers entered the varsity roughly an hour later, at 12:45 p.m., stated Texas Department of Public Security 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 dead.

Within the hour in between, the officers called for backup, negotiators and tactical groups, while evacuating college students and lecturers, Escalon said.

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

Ken Trump, president of the consulting agency National Faculty Safety and Security Services, mentioned the length of the timeline raised questions.

"Based mostly on finest practices, it's very difficult to understand why there have been any sorts of delays, particularly when you get into studies of 40 minutes and up of entering into to neutralize that shooter," he mentioned.

Many different particulars of the case and response remained murky. The motive for the bloodbath — the nation's deadliest college shooting since Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., a decade in the past — remains underneath investigation, with authorities saying the gunman had no identified legal or mental well being history.

Throughout the siege, annoyed onlookers urged law enforcement officials to charge into the school, in line with witnesses.

"Go in there! Go in there!" girls shouted at the officers quickly after the assault began, stated Juan Carranza, 24, who watched the scene from outdoors a house across the road.

Carranza mentioned the officers should have entered the college sooner: "There were extra of them. There was simply one of him."

Texas Division of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw defended the agency Wednesday, saying, "The underside line is regulation enforcement was there. They did engage instantly. They did contain him in the classroom."

Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz did not give a timeline but stated repeatedly that the tactical officers from his company who arrived on the faculty did not hesitate. He said they moved shortly to enter the constructing, lining up in a "stack" behind an agent holding up a defend.

"What we wished to make sure is to act rapidly, act swiftly, and that is precisely what those agents did," Ortiz instructed Fox News.

However a regulation enforcement official stated that when within the constructing, the Border Patrol agents had hassle breaching the classroom door and had to get a workers member to open the room with a key. The official spoke on situation of anonymity because he was not licensed to speak publicly concerning the investigation.

Department of Public Security spokesman Lt. Christopher Olivarez told CNN that investigators were making an attempt to establish whether the classroom was, actually, locked or barricaded indirectly.

Javier Cazares, whose daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, was killed in the attack, said he raced to the varsity when he heard in regards to the taking pictures. 

When he arrived, he said he noticed two officers exterior the college and about five others escorting students out of the constructing. But 15 or 20 minutes handed earlier than the arrival of officers with shields, equipped to confront the gunman, he mentioned.

As more dad and mom flocked to the college, he and others pressed police to act, Cazares stated. He heard about 4 gunshots earlier than he and the others had been ordered back to a car parking zone.

"Lots of us had been arguing with the police, 'You all have to go in there. You all need to do your jobs.' Their response was, 'We won't do our jobs because you guys are interfering,"' Cazares said.

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

The White Home mentioned the Bidens would "grieve with the community that misplaced 21 lives in the horrific" taking pictures at Robb Elementary School. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the president would meet with the group, local non secular leaders and the victims' households.

Making the announcement, Jean-Pierre echoed Biden, who in remarks Tuesday evening, spoke from personal experience about the ache of shedding a toddler, and called on the country to tighten gun laws in response to the shooting.

'"When in God's identify are we going to face up to the gun lobby?" he said. "Why are we prepared to reside with this carnage? Why will we preserve letting this occur?"

Before attacking the school, Ramos shot and wounded his grandmother at the dwelling they shared.

Neighbour Gilbert Gallegos, 82, who lives across the street and has known the household for decades, stated he was puttering in his yard when he heard the shots.

Gallegos stated he noticed a car racing away from the home: "He spun out, I imply quick, spraying gravel in the air."

The grandmother quickly emerged from the house, coated in blood.

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

Gallegos mentioned he had heard no arguments earlier than or after the shots, and knew of no history of bullying or abuse within the home.

Front Burner20:06A Sandy Hook mother on another college capturing