Gunman entered Texas elementary college unobstructed, was inside for an hour

The gunman who massacred 19 kids and two teachers at a Texas elementary faculty Tuesday was inside for greater than an hour before he was killed in a shootout, legislation enforcement authorities said Thursday amid mounting public anger and scrutiny over their response to the rampage.

A media briefing known as by Texas security officials to clarify the timeline of the attack offered bits of previously unknown data.

By the point it ended, although, it had added to the troubling questions surrounding the assault within the town of Uvalde, together with in regards to the time it took police to reach the scene and confront the gunman, and the apparent failure to lock a school door he entered.

After two days of offering often conflicting data, investigators mentioned that a college district police officer was not inside Robb Elementary when 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos arrived around 11:30 a.m. native time, and, contrary to their previous stories, the officer had not confronted Ramos outside the building.

As an alternative, they sketched out a timeline notable for unexplained delays by law enforcement in responding to the attack.

Ramos crashed his truck near the back of the school at 11:28 a.m., then fired an AR-style rifle at two folks popping out of a nearby funeral dwelling, mentioned Victor Escalon, regional director for the Texas Department of Public Security.

Ramos then entered the college "unobstructed" via an apparently unlocked door at about 11:40 a.m., Escalon mentioned.

However the first law enforcement officials did not arrive on the scene until 12 minutes after the crash and didn't enter the varsity to pursue the shooter till four minutes after that. Inside, they have been driven back by gunfire from Ramos and took cowl, Escalon said.

The crisis got here to an end after a group of Border Patrol tactical officers entered the school roughly an hour later, at 12:45 p.m., stated Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Travis Considine. They engaged in a shootout with the gunman, who was holed up in a fourth grade classroom. Radio chatter at 12:58 p.m. indicated that he was lifeless.

In the hour in between, the officers known as for backup, negotiators and tactical teams, while evacuating students and teachers, Escalon stated.

However he largely ignored questions on why officers weren't able to cease the shooter sooner, saying he had "taken all those questions into consideration" and would supply updates.

Ken Trump, president of the consulting agency Nationwide College Security and Safety Companies, stated the length of the timeline raised questions.

"Primarily based on best practices, it's extremely difficult to understand why there have been any types of delays, notably while you get into reports of 40 minutes and up of getting into to neutralize that shooter," he stated.

Many other details of the case and response remained murky. The motive for the massacre — the nation's deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., a decade ago — stays below investigation, with authorities saying the gunman had no recognized prison or psychological health historical past.

In the course of the siege, pissed off onlookers urged police officers to charge into the college, according to witnesses.

"Go in there! Go in there!" girls shouted at the officers soon after the assault started, said Juan Carranza, 24, who watched the scene from exterior a home across the road.

Carranza said the officers should have entered the college sooner: "There have been extra of them. There was just certainly one of him."

Texas Department of Public Security Director Steve McCraw defended the company Wednesday, saying, "The underside line is legislation enforcement was there. They did engage immediately. They did comprise him within the classroom."

Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz did not give a timeline however said repeatedly that the tactical officers from his agency who arrived at the college did not hesitate. He stated they moved quickly to enter the constructing, lining up in a "stack" behind an agent holding up a shield.

"What we wished to verify is to act quickly, act swiftly, and that is exactly what these brokers did," Ortiz instructed Fox Information.

However a legislation enforcement official said that when in the building, the Border Patrol brokers had hassle breaching the classroom door and had to get a workers member to open the room with a key. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly in regards to the investigation.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Lt. Christopher Olivarez told CNN that investigators have been trying to establish whether or not the classroom was, in reality, locked or barricaded not directly.

Javier Cazares, whose daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, was killed in the attack, mentioned he raced to the school when he heard in regards to the shooting. 

When he arrived, he said he noticed two officers outdoors the varsity and about five others escorting students out of the building. But 15 or 20 minutes passed earlier than the arrival of officers with shields, outfitted to confront the gunman, he mentioned.

As extra dad and mom flocked to the college, he and others pressed police to behave, Cazares mentioned. He heard about 4 gunshots earlier than he and the others were ordered back to a car parking zone.

"Plenty of us have been arguing with the police, 'You all need to go in there. You all need to do your jobs.' Their response was, 'We will not do our jobs since you guys are interfering,"' Cazares mentioned.

U.S. President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, will travel to Uvalde, Texas, on Sunday to console families and honour the victims of Tuesday's capturing.

The White Home stated the Bidens would "grieve with the community that lost 21 lives within the horrific" taking pictures at Robb Elementary College. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated the president would meet with the neighborhood, local non secular leaders and the victims' households.

Making the announcement, Jean-Pierre echoed Biden, who in remarks Tuesday night, spoke from personal experience concerning the ache of losing a baby, and known as on the country to tighten gun laws in response to the capturing.

'"When in God's identify are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?" he said. "Why are we keen to reside with this carnage? Why can we hold letting this happen?"

Earlier than attacking the school, Ramos shot and wounded his grandmother on the dwelling they shared.

Neighbour Gilbert Gallegos, 82, who lives across the road and has identified the household for many years, mentioned he was puttering in his yard when he heard the pictures.

Gallegos stated he noticed a automotive racing away from the house: "He spun out, I mean fast, spraying gravel in the air."

The grandmother soon emerged from the home, lined in blood.

"She says, 'Berto, this is what he did. He shot me,' " he recalled.

Gallegos mentioned he had heard no arguments earlier than or after the photographs, and knew of no history of bullying or abuse within the home.

Front Burner20:06A Sandy Hook mother on another college shooting