Cross-school robbery names are shown on a monument outside Robb Elementary School after a gunman killed nineteen children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas.MARCO BELLO / Reuters
Police on Thursday faced growing questions and criticism about the time that elapsed before they stormed a Texas elementary school classroom and ended the attack of a gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers.
Investigators were also unable to say for sure whether an armed security guard from the school district outside Robb Elementary in the town of Uvalde exchanged fire with the attacker, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, when Ramos first arrived on Tuesday. .
The cause of the massacre, the deadliest school shooting in the country from Newtown, Connecticut, a decade ago, remained under investigation, and authorities said Ramos had no known criminal or mental health history.
“Lovely Individuals” and their two teachers died in the Texas Elementary School shooting. This is what we know about them so far
During the siege, which ended when a U.S. Border Patrol team stormed in and shot the gunman, frustrated spectators urged police officers to charge at the school, witnesses said.
“Come in! Get in! “The women called the officers shortly after the attack began, said Juan Carranza, 24, who saw the scene from outside a house across the street.
Texas Department of Homeland Security director Steve McCraw said Wednesday it was between 40 minutes and an hour since Ramos opened fire on the school’s security officer until the tactical team fired at him. .
“The bottom line is that there was law enforcement,” McCraw said. “They committed immediately. They contained (Ramos) in the classroom.”
But a spokesman for the department said on Thursday that authorities were still working to clarify the chronology of the attack, without knowing if this 40-minute to one-hour period began when the gunman arrived at the school, or earlier. , when he shot his grandmother at home.
“Right now we don’t have an accurate or safe timeline to offer to say the gunman was in school during that period,” Lt. Christopher Olivarez told CNN.
The head of the Border Patrol, Raúl Ortiz, did not give a timetable, but said repeatedly that the tactical agents of his agency who arrived at the school did not hesitate. He said they moved quickly to enter the building, lining up in a “pile” behind an officer holding a shield.
“What we wanted to make sure of was to act quickly, to act quickly, and that’s exactly what these agents did,” Ortiz told Fox News.
But a law enforcement official said that once inside the building, Border Patrol officers had trouble breaking down the classroom door and had to have a staff member open the room with a key. . The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.
Olivarez said investigators were trying to establish whether the classroom was, in fact, closed or barricaded in some way.
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Esmeralda Bravo, in the center, holds a photo of her granddaughter, Nevaeh, one of the victims of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas.Jae C. Hong / The Associated Press
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Eliahana Cruz Torres, one of the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. ELIAHANA TORRES FAMILY / Reuters
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Tess Mata, one of the victims of the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. TESS MATA FAMILY
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Rojelio Torres, one of the victims of the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. ROJELIO TORRES FAMILY / Reuters
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Jailah Silguero, one of the victims of the robbery at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.JAILAH SILGUERO / Reuters
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Jose Flores, one of the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. FAMILY OF JOSÉ FLORES / Reuters
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Amerie Jo Garza, one of the victims of the Robb Elementary School mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. AMERIE JO GARZA FAMILY / Reuters
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Uziyah Garcia, one of the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. FAMILY OF UZIYAH GARCIA / Reuters
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Alithia Ramírez, one of the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. ALITHIA RAMIREZ FAMILY / Reuters
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Ellie Garcia, one of the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Syria Arizmendi / The Associated Press
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Miranda Mathis, one of the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. MIRANDA MATHIS FAMILY / Reuters
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Makenna Lee Elrod, one of the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. MAKENNA FAMILY LEE ELROD / Reuters
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Maite Rodríguez, one of the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. MAITE RODRIGUEZ FAMILY / Reuters
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Layla Salazar, one of the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. LAYLA SALAZAR’S FAMILY / Reuters
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Annabelle Rodríguez, one of the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. ANNABELLE RODRIGUEZ FAMILY / Reuters
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Jackie Cazares, one of the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. JACKIE CAZARES FAMILY / Reuters
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Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, one of the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. SILGUERO AND LUEVANOS FAMILY / Reuters
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Professor Irma Garcia, one of the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. FAMILY OF IRMA GARCIA / Reuters
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Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, one of the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. ALEXANDRIA FAMILY ANIYAH RUBIO / Reuters
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Xavier López, one of the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. FAMILY OF XAVIER LOPEZ / Reuters
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Javier Cazares, whose fourth-grader daughter Jacklyn Cazares died in the attack, said she ran to school when she learned of the shooting and arrived while police were still concentrated outside.
Disgusted that the police would not move, he raised the idea of entering the school with several other spectators.
“We are in a hurry because the police are not doing anything as they are supposed to do,” he said. “More could have been done.”
“They were not ready,” he added.
Carranza had seen Ramos crash his truck into a ditch outside the school, grab his AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle, and shoot two people outside a funeral home, who fled unharmed.
Olivarez told CNN that the out-of-school security officer was armed and that initial reports said he and Ramos had exchanged gunfire, “but right now we’re trying to corroborate that information.”
When Ramos entered the school, two police officers from Uvalde exchanged fire with him, and were injured, according to Olivarez. Ramos entered a classroom and started killing.
Carranza said officers should have entered the school earlier.
“There were more. There was only one,” he said.
On Wednesday night, hundreds of people filled the stands of the village fairgrounds for a vigil. Some cried. Some closed their eyes tightly, saying silent prayers. Parents wrapped their arms around their children as speakers delivered prayers for healing.
Before attacking the school, Ramos shot and injured his grandmother in the house they shared.
Neighbor Gilbert Gallegos, 82, who lives across the street and has known the family for decades, said he was shooting in his yard when he heard gunshots.
Ramos ran out the front door and crossed the yard to a truck parked in front of the house and ran away.
Ramos ‘grandmother came out covered in blood: “She says,’ Berto, that’s what she did. He shot me. ” She was hospitalized.
Gallegos said he had not heard any discussion before or after the shootings, and that he knew of no history of harassment or abuse by Ramos, whom he rarely saw.
Lorena Auguste was a substitute teacher at Uvalde High School when she learned of the shooting and began sending frantic text messages to her niece, a fourth-grader at Robb. He finally found out that the girl was fine.
But that night, his niece had a question.
“Why did they do this to us?” the girl asked. “We’re good kids. We didn’t do anything wrong.”
Houston community members sing “This Little Light Of Mine” during a Tuesday night vigil following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where at least 19 students and two adults were killed.
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