Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday he is “absolutely lively” for being “deceived” about the police response to the shooting at Uvalde Elementary School and calls for a full investigation.
Hours after officials again undermined reports of officers immediately involved in the shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers on Tuesday, Abbott said his earlier statements praising the response were based on what he said. police and state officials had said, and he repeated. detailed notes he took during those briefings.
“It simply came to our notice then. I am furious about what happened, “he said.” The information they gave me was, in part, inaccurate, and I am absolutely free about it. “
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Abbott said exactly what happened must be investigated “thoroughly and thoroughly” by state police and the FBI.
“It is imperative that the leaders of the investigation get to the second of what happened,” the governor said.
In the immediate aftermath of the robbery at Robb Elementary School, Abbott told reporters that officers had been involved with the shooter before he entered the school, and also praised the police response.
The information shared in the days following the massacre has drawn a completely different story. On Friday morning, officials admitted that the school district police chief had made the “wrong decision” to wait more than 45 minutes before finally entering the locked classroom where the shooter opened fire.
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This briefing took place after the authorities spent three days providing often contradictory and incomplete information about the 90 minutes that elapsed between the time Salvador Ramos, 18, entered the school and when police officers U.S. Border Patrol unlocked the classroom door and killed him.
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Steven McCraw, head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, told the often-controversial news conference Friday that the school district police chief Pete Arredondo, who was the scene commander at the time, believed Ramos it was barricaded in the adjoining classrooms and that the children were no longer at risk.
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During the attack, teachers and children repeatedly called 911 for help, McCraw said.
Contrary to previous statements from officials, including Abbott, a school district police officer was not at school when Ramos arrived. When the officer responded, unknowingly, he passed Ramos, who was crouched behind a car parked outside and fired at the building, McCraw said.
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Ramos then entered the school through a back door that had opened and fired more than 100 meats at a couple of classrooms, McCraw said. He did not explain why the door was open.
When border guards were ready to enter the classroom where Ramos killed 21 people, McCraw said there were up to 19 officers in the outer hallway. However, Arredondo decided the group would have to wait to confront the gunman, believing the scene was no longer an active attack, McCraw added.
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At his first press conference after the shooting, Abbott praised the police response and said his actions had saved lives.
“It could have been worse. The reason it wasn’t worse is because law enforcement officers did what they did,” the governor said Wednesday.
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McCraw said Friday that investigators do not know if children died during the time police were waiting in the hallway.
Abbott’s press conference was held at about the same time as he was scheduled to attend the National Rifle Association’s annual convention in Houston, an appearance he canceled.
Instead, the governor provided a pre-recorded video message in which he continued to insist that the most restrictive gun laws would not have stopped the shooting of Uvalde, a message he repeated at the press conference.
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Abbott announced at a press conference that his government is offering free mental health support to anyone in Uvalde who wants to access it through a toll-free number.
He later added that mental health reform was the answer to prevent more mass shootings, rejecting questions from reporters about expanding background checks or raising the minimum age for weapons from of the 18 years.
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At one point, Democratic Sen. Roland Gutierrez interrupted the press conference to call for Abbott to convene a special session of the legislature to address solutions to the Uvalde shooting, including gun control measures.
“We have to do something, man,” Gutierrez said. “Just call us.”
The scene was reminiscent of Democratic candidate for governor Beto O’Rourke’s confrontation at another Abbott press conference two days earlier, where he accused Abbott of “doing nothing” to address armed violence.
Abbott signed a law last year that allowed Texans to carry weapons without a license or training. Other laws passed in 2021 allowed school stewards and hotel guests to carry weapons and declared gun shops to be essential businesses.
– with Associated Press files
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