Frustrated onlookers urged police officers to charge into the Texas elementary school where a gunman’s rampage killed 19 children and two teachers, witnesses said Wednesday, as investigators worked to track the massacre that lasted upwards of 40 minutes and ended when the 18-year-old shooter was killed by a Border Patrol team.
“Go in there! Go in there!” nearby women shouted at the officers soon after the attack began, said Juan Carranza, 24, who saw the scene from outside his house, across the street from Robb Elementary School in the close-knit town of Uvalde. Carranza said the officers did not go in.
Javier Cazares, whose fourth grade daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, was killed in the attack, said he raced to the school when he heard about the shooting, arriving while police were still gathered outside the building. (snip)
Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw told reporters that 40 minutes to an hour elapsed from when Ramos opened fire on the school security officer to when the tactical team shot him, though a department spokesman said later that they could not give a solid estimate of how long the gunman was in the school or when he was killed.
“The bottom line is law enforcement was there,” McCraw said. “They did engage immediately. They did contain (Ramos) in the classroom.”
Lots of questions about the Uvalde Police scanner missing nearly 20 minutes of audio and if it's connected to the police waiting to enter. Another theory is that the police purposely go silent in these instances, in case the shooter has a radio. Still parsing that out-stay tuned.
— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) May 26, 2022
In the past few weeks, we've had three outrageous tragedies that have really shaken America to its core: a sidewalk defacement in Maine, a house protest in Maryland, and now a press conference interruption in Texas. We can't go on like this.
— J. Van Wyck (@TheRealJVanWyck) May 26, 2022