UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Law enforcement authorities confronted questions and criticism Thursday over how a lot time elapsed earlier than they stormed a Texas elementary school classroom and put a cease to the rampage by a gunman who killed 19 youngsters and two academics.
Investigators had been additionally unable to say with any certainty whether or not an armed school district safety officer outdoors Robb Elementary within the city of Uvalde exchanged hearth with the attacker, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, when Ramos first arrived on Tuesday.
The motive for the bloodbath — the nation’s deadliest school shooting since Newtown, Connecticut, a decade in the past — remained underneath investigation, with authorities saying Ramos had no identified prison or psychological well being historical past.
During the siege, which ended when a U.S. Border Patrol crew burst in and shot the gunman to loss of life, annoyed onlookers urged cops to cost into the school, in accordance to witnesses.
“Go in there! Go in there!” ladies shouted on the officers quickly after the assault started, mentioned Juan Carranza, 24, who watched the scene from outdoors a home throughout the road.
Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw mentioned Wednesday that 40 minutes to an hour elapsed from when Ramos opened hearth on the school safety officer to when the tactical crew shot him.
“The bottom line is law enforcement was there,” McCraw mentioned. “They did engage immediately. They did contain (Ramos) in the classroom.”
But a division spokesman mentioned Thursday that authorities had been nonetheless working to make clear the timeline of the assault, unsure whether or not that interval of 40 minutes to an hour started when the gunman reached the school, or earlier, when he shot his grandmother at dwelling.
“Right now we do not have an accurate or confident timeline to provide to say the gunman was in the school for this period,” Lt. Christopher Olivarez informed CNN.
Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz didn’t give a timeline however mentioned repeatedly that the tactical officers from his company who arrived on the school didn’t hesitate. He mentioned they moved rapidly to enter the constructing, lining up in a “stack” behind an agent holding up a protect.
“What we wanted to make sure is to act quickly, act swiftly, and that’s exactly what those agents did,” Ortiz informed Fox News.
But a legislation enforcement official mentioned that after within the constructing, the Border Patrol brokers had hassle breaching the classroom door and had to get a employees member to open the room with a key. The official spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of he was not approved to discuss publicly concerning the investigation.
Olivarez mentioned investigators had been attempting to set up whether or not the classroom was, the truth is, locked or barricaded ultimately.
Javier Cazares, whose fourth grade daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, was killed within the assault, mentioned he raced to the school when he heard concerning the shooting, arriving whereas police had been nonetheless gathered outdoors.
Upset that police weren’t shifting in, he raised the concept of charging into the school with a number of different bystanders.
“Let’s just rush in because the cops aren’t doing anything like they are supposed to,” he mentioned. “More could have been done.”
“They were unprepared,” he added.
Carranza had watched as Ramos crashed his truck right into a ditch outdoors the school, grabbed his AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle and shot at two folks outdoors a funeral dwelling, who ran away unhurt.
Olivarez informed CNN that the school safety officer outdoors was armed and that preliminary reviews mentioned he and Ramos exchanged gunfire, “but right now we’re trying to corroborate that information.”
As Ramos entered the school, two Uvalde cops exchanged hearth with him, and had been wounded, in accordance to Olivarez. Ramos went right into a classroom and commenced to kill.
Carranza mentioned the officers ought to have entered the school sooner.
“There were more of them. There was just one of him,” he mentioned.
On Wednesday evening, tons of packed the bleachers on the city’s fairgrounds for a vigil. Some cried. Some closed their eyes tight, mouthing silent prayers. Parents wrapped their arms round their youngsters because the audio system led prayers for therapeutic.
Before attacking the school, Ramos shot and wounded his grandmother on the dwelling they shared.
Neighbor Gilbert Gallegos, 82, who lives throughout the road and has identified the household for many years, mentioned he was puttering in his yard when he heard the photographs.
Ramos ran out the entrance door and throughout the yard to a truck parked in entrance of the home and raced away: “He spun out, I mean fast,” spraying gravel within the air, Gallegos mentioned.
Ramos’ grandmother emerged coated in blood: “She says, ‘Berto, this is what he did. He shot me.’” She was hospitalized.
Gallegos mentioned he had heard no arguments earlier than or after the photographs, and knew of no historical past of bullying or abuse of Ramos, whom he hardly ever noticed.
Lorena Auguste was substitute educating at Uvalde High School when she heard concerning the shooting and commenced frantically texting her niece, a fourth grader at Robb Elementary. Eventually she discovered the woman was OK.
But that evening, her niece had a query.
“Why did they do this to us?” the woman requested. “We’re good kids. We didn’t do anything wrong.”
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Bleiberg reported from Dallas.
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More on the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/school-shootings