Texas school massacre: children phoned to beg for help as police waited in corridor
- ‘It was the wrong decision’ to delay storming the classroom, a public safety official admits
- It was not until an hour after police entered the building that an off-duty US Border Patrol tactical officer arrived and killed the gunman
Children inside a Texas junior school begged the police to enter their classroom and save them, frantically calling emergency services, as a team of 19 officers waited in the corridor for an hour because a commander believed the situation had shifted from active shooter to a barricaded subject, a state law enforcement officer said Friday.
“Of course, it wasn’t the right decision.” Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw said at a news conference, choking back tears. “It was the wrong decision. Period.”
With 19 officers inside, McCraw said, there were “plenty of officers to do whatever needed to be done”.
But the commander inside – Pete Arredondo, the Uvalde Consolidated School District chief of police – decided the team needed more equipment and officers to enter the classroom where the shooter was holed up. He said the team did not move to take out the gunman until a full Border Patrol tactical unit arrived.
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Nineteen children and two teachers died in the massacre.
“Ultimately, this is tragic. What do you tell the parents of 19 kids or the families of two teachers?” McCraw said. “We’re not here to defend what happened. We’re here to report the facts.”