“People will ask why we are taking so long,” a law enforcement official at the scene of the shooting could be heard, according to the Times, citing a transcript of law enforcement camera footage.
“We are trying to save the rest of our lives,” the transcript said.
“We are ready to break through, but this door is locked,” said Pedro “Pete” Aredondo, chief of school police in Uwalde around 12:30 p.m., the Times reported, citing a transcript. Aredondo was identified by the authorities as the official who led the wrong reaction of the law enforcement authorities to the shooting.
The Times reported that employees have become impatient and express their concerns.
“If there are children there, we have to go in there,” a police officer could be heard saying, according to the Times, citing investigative documents.
“Whoever is responsible will determine this,” another official said, according to the Times.
According to CNN’s chronology of events, the first police officers entered the school building around 11:35 a.m. – just moments after the 18-year-old gunman who continued to kill 19 young students and two teachers that day.
At approximately 11:44 a.m., local officers called for additional resources, equipment, bulletproof vests and negotiators, and evacuated students and teachers, officials said earlier.
At 12:03 a.m., “up to 19 officers” gathered in the school hallway while the shooter was in the adjacent classrooms where the massacre took place.
At the same time, a student from one of the neighboring classrooms called 911, identifying the classroom he was in, officials said. She called again at 12:13 a.m. and then again a few minutes later, telling dispatchers that authorities said eight to nine students were still alive.
Law enforcement officers stormed the classroom door at 12:50 p.m., using concierge keys, and shot the suspects.
At a news conference on May 27, Public Safety Director Stephen McCrow said the classroom was not immediately broken because the incident commander, Aredondo, believed the scene was a “barricaded object situation” and not an active shooter situation. . He said the district police chief believed that “there is time to get the keys and wait for a tactical team with equipment to continue, break down the door and address the issue.”
“In favor of the retrospective information where I am sitting now, of course, this was not the right decision,” McCrow said at the time about the supervisor’s call not to confront the shooter. “It was the wrong decision. Point. There’s no excuse for that.”
CNN contacted the DPS office and Uwalde County Attorney Christina Mitchell Busby for comment.
Trying to get more answers about the tragedy, the Texas House Committee of Inquiry held its first hearing in the mission on Thursday and may prepare a preliminary report by the end of the month.
A source close to the commission said the report was expected to focus only on the facts and include a chronological sequence of events, a timeline and details of the shooter. The commission is quasi-judicial and has the power to call, and all testimony will be sworn in, the source said.
Texas Rangers, an investigating branch of the U.S. Department of Public Safety, is also investigating the massacre and law enforcement response. The US Department of Justice is also reviewing law enforcement response to a request from Uwalde Mayor Don McLaughlin.
In a statement Thursday, in response to a Times article, Texas Gov. spokesman Greg Abbott Rene Ez said: “Investigations by Texas Rangers and the FBI are ongoing and we look forward to sharing the full results with the victims.” the full truth about what happened on this tragic day. “
CNN’s Christina Maxuris and Rosa Flores contributed to this report.
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