Texas Police Admit Inactive Gunman’s Decision “Wrong Decision”
Officials have admitted critical delays in law enforcement response to the massacre of 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school.
Police are facing growing criticism for handling the tragedy at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday, with allegations that they have not moved fast enough to deal with lone gunman Salvador Ramos.
Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said officers did not break down the classroom door for more than an hour after initially arriving Tuesday.
Authorities falsely believed the gunman was “barricaded” and was no longer an active gunfire threat, despite requests and phone calls from terrified schoolchildren inside his classrooms.
Hundreds of people gathered in Houston on Friday to protest the National Rifle Association’s annual conference, where Sen. Ted Cruz and former President Donald Trump addressed the gun rights lobby. and claimed their political opponents were “exploiting” the tragedy.
Meanwhile, the killer’s mother has apologized to the victims of her son’s murders, but said Ramos “had his reasons” for doing what he did.
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The gunman’s mother says she “had her reasons for what she did”
The mother of a teenager who killed 21 people in a shooting at a Texas school has apologized to her son, saying she “had her reasons for doing what she did.”
Speaking after her son was shot dead by law enforcement, Adriana Martínez Reyes said she had no explanation for her attack on the school.
“I have no words to say. I don’t know what he was thinking,” Reyes, dismayed, told CNN-affiliated Televisa when a reporter was questioned from inside a vehicle.
“I had his reasons for doing what he did and please don’t judge him. I just want the innocent children who died to forgive me.”
Click here to see the full story.
Adriana Martínez Reis begs forgiveness for her son Salvador Ramos
(screenshot)
Sam Rkaina May 28, 2022 10:05 AM
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Students trapped in the classroom with a gunman repeatedly called 911
Students trapped inside a classroom with a gunman repeatedly called 911 during this week’s attack on a Texas elementary school, including one that begged, “Please send the police now.” officers waited more than an hour to enter the classroom after following the gunman. the building, authorities said Friday.
Miah Cerrillo, 11, told CNN she was covered in the blood of a friend for appearing dead.
After the shooter moved into an adjoining room, he could hear screams, more gunfire, and music playing through the gunman. Samuel Salinas, 10, who was also killed, told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the assailant shot Professor Irma Garcia before shooting the children.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain May 28, 2022 10:00 AM
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Trump criticizes Abbott and other Republicans for withdrawing NRA meeting after Uvalde shooting
Former President Donald Trump mocked other Republicans for withdrawing from the annual National Rifle Association meeting in Houston after the shooting in Uvalde killed 21 people earlier this week.
Trump addressed the annual meeting at the George R Brown Convention Center just three days after Salvador Ramos opened fire and killed 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
“And unlike others, I didn’t disappoint in not introducing you,” Trump told the crowd amid applause.
My colleague Eric Garcia has more:
Maryam Zakir-Hussain May 28, 2022 9:30 AM
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Ted Cruz says “many more children” would die if the AR-15 was banned
Senator Ted Cruz has claimed that banning the high-powered military-style rifle used by mass shooters in a long series of school massacres would kill more children because Americans could not use long rifles to stop the thefts. at the street.
Cruz made the outrageous statement during statements at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention in Houston, less than 300 miles from where an 18-year-old gunman used an AR-15-style rifle he had bought earlier. this month to murder 19 children. and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Andrew Feinburg has more:
Maryam Zakir-Hussain May 28, 2022 9:00 p.m.
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Six major police mistakes in UValde shooting make jeans “livid”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he is “lively” from what he has learned from the police response to the massacre in Uvalde, and so are the families of the so-called South Texas community.
“Law enforcement will gain the public’s trust by making sure they thoroughly and thoroughly investigate exactly what happened,” Abbott said Friday.
As more details emerge about the school shooting, it is clear that multiple law enforcement failures contributed to the tragic final death toll of 21 people, writes Josh Marcus.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain May 28, 2022 8:30 AM
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Timeline of what happened in the Texas school shooting
This is what we know so far about the chronology (at the central time) of the previous events and the day of the shooting in Uvalde on Tuesday.
Graig Graziosi and Gustaf Kilander have the details:
Maryam Zakir-Hussain May 28, 2022 7:50 AM
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“It was a wrong decision”
A police official accused him of not sending officers faster to stop the shooting at the school in Uvalde, Texas, he is the head of the small police force in the school system, a unit usually dedicated to establishing relationships with students and respond to the occasional fight.
Preparing for mass shootings is a small part of what school police officers do, but local experts say the preparation of officers assigned to Texas schools, including the mandatory training of active shooters, provides them with such a solid foundation. like any other “.
The tactical and conceptual mindset is definitely there in Texas, “said Joe McKenna, deputy superintendent of the Comal School District in Texas and former deputy director of the state school safety center.
District Police Chief Pete Arredondo decided that officers would have to wait to confront the gunman for the belief that he was locked inside adjoining classrooms and that the children were no longer in danger, they said. say officials on Friday.
“It was a wrong decision,” Steven McCraw, head of the Texas Department of Homeland Security, told a news conference Friday.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain May 28, 2022 7:21 AM
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Beto O’Rourke continues his crusade for gun control at the NRA convention
Texas Democratic Gov. Beto O’Rourke has called on hundreds of protesters in Houston outside the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting, calling for action on gun legislation after a shooting in Uvalde left 21 dead .
“So I ask you for those of you who are in power and are in office at the moment and who were on the road and refuse to act: Please promise me that you will put yourself in the face before another child shot them in the face, “he told protesters.
He has been speaking passionately since the shooting in Uvalde, including interrupting a press conference by the governor to argue his case.
Graig Graziosi had the story.
Josh Marcus May 28, 2022 6:00 p.m.
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As an elite unit of the Border Patrol he helped kill the gunman Uvalde
Members of the Uvalde police department temporarily barred the elite Border Patrol command team that eventually killed Salvador Ramos from entering Robb Elementary School, reports The New York Times, citing unnamed government sources. .
Specially trained officers with the Bortac SWAT force team drove from the U.S.-Mexico border to assist officers who responded to Uvalde.
They arrived between noon and 12:10 p.m., nearly 40 minutes before the 18-year-old gunman was killed by law enforcement.
During this time, nine different 911 calls came out of the school and the students were caught and shot.
The group was baffled by local agents telling them to wait temporarily, according to the newspaper, and did not know why the UValde PD SWAT team itself was no longer at the scene.
More details in our report.
Josh Marcus May 28, 2022 5:30 p.m.
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Uvalde police trained for an active shooter. So why did they fail so much?
Uvalde school police conducted active shooter training just two months before Salvador Ramos massacred 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary.
The Texas City Consolidated Independent School District conducted the training session to “prepare as best as possible” exactly for the type of situation that took place earlier this week.
Uvalde’s CISD posted the training session on Facebook on March 22nd.
Graeme Massie studied his training practices.
Josh Marcus May 28, 2022 5:00 p.m.