The Texas police admitted, Friday, May 27, to have committed a ” mistake “ by not immediately attacking the class where Salvador Ramos, the author of the shooting which killed 21 people, including 19 children, was entrenched on Tuesday at the elementary school in Uvalde (Texas). A confession which further accentuated the despair of the families of the victims. For nearly forty minutes, about twenty police officers remained inactive in the school corridor, while the children were holed up on the other side of the wall, among the lifeless bodies of their comrades and their two teachers, Irma Garcia and Eva Mireles.
At a press conference, during which he himself shed a few tears, Texas Public Safety Director Steven McCraw made no secret of the inadequacies that surrounded the response of ISIS forces. order – four different units intervened – to a killing that lasted an hour and a half, while the first police officers arrived on the spot five minutes after the assailant. “If I thought it could be useful in any way, I would apologize”he delivered.
The official detailed the new course of the drama, purged of the erroneous elements which appeared in the first reports. No one obstructed the killer’s progress. No policeman was on duty at the school gate: the man had gone away. A school district police officer rushed in, having heard an initial 911 call, but did not see the shooter, obscured by cars in the parking lot. Salvador Ramos shot at the windows of the school, then entered the premises through the back door, unlocked by a teacher who had gone to get her laptop. Two municipal police who pursued the assailant came under fire and retreated. Entering the premises at 11.33 a.m., Salvador Ramos barricaded himself in classes 111 and 112, two communicating rooms. He was not shot until 12:58 p.m.
“Please send the police now”
At the same time, the officer revealed the content of the calls made by the children themselves to the 911 emergency number. Another heartbreak: “It is better to read them than to hear them”, he reported. At 12:03 p.m., half an hour after the shooting began, a girl called 911 on her cell phone. She whispered that she was in class 112. The schoolgirl, whose name was not revealed, called several times. At 12:10 p.m., to report that there were several dead. Then, six minutes later, only 8 to 9 children were still alive. Since 12:03 p.m., at least 19 police officers were massed in the corridor. At 12:19 p.m., they had received reinforcements from a specialized unit of the border police. Behind the wall, the child hostages could hear the police. At 12:43 p.m., the little one begged: “Please send the police now. » Officers stormed at 12:50 p.m. According to the official, the girl survived.
You have 43.17% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.
