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Between questioning of the Uvalde Community, In Texas, due to the actions of the authorities before and during the massacre last Tuesday, the director of the state Department of Public Safety, Steven McCraw, acknowledged on Friday that it was a mistake to have waited so long to enter the class where the massacre took place. .
According to the authorities, some 20 police officers remained for more than 45 minutes in a corridor outside the classrooms. during the massacre that occurred this week at an elementary school in Texas until they used a skeleton key to unlock a door and confront the armed assailant.
McCraw explained at a news conference that the commanding officer at the scene believed the shooter, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, had barricaded himself in a school classroom during Tuesday’s attack and that the children were not in danger.
“He was convinced at the time that the boys were no longer in danger; that the subject had barricaded himself and they had time to organize ”to get him into the classroom, McCraw said. “Of course, it was not the right decision, but the wrong one,” he noted.
McCraw added that Border Patrol agents eventually used a skeleton key to open the locked classroom door, where they confronted and killed Ramos, who had already killed to 19 students and two teachers.
The official also said there was a volley of gunfire shortly after Ramos entered the classroom where he was gunned down, though the shots were “sporadic.” for much of the time the agents waited outside the hallway. She said investigators don’t know how many children died and if they died during those 48 minutes.
The little ones called 911 for help from the classroom
During the massacre, teachers and children repeatedly called the 911 emergency number for help.
Someone McCraw did not identify called 911 several times beginning at 12:03 pm, telling police in whispers that there were several dead and that there were “eight to nine” students still alive.
A student called at 12:47 pm and asked the operator to “please send the police now.”
Officers did not enter the classroom until 12:50 pm, according to McCraw, when the US Border Patrol tactical team used a janitor’s keys to open the sealed door and shoot Ramos down.
Several officers had an initial exchange of fire with Ramos shortly after he entered the school at 11:33 am, and two officers were nearly hit by bullets. There were as many as 19 officers in the hallway at 12:03 pm, McCraw said, when the first 911 call was received from inside the classroom.
Police recovered 142 bullets inside the school that were fired from Ramos’ rifle, as well as nearly two dozen more on school property, McCraw said.
Videos circulating Thursday showed desperate parents urging police to enter the school during the attack; some had to be held by the agents.
America’s deadliest school attack in nearly a decade has intensified a long-running debate over gun portability rules, as the National Rifle Association, the nation’s leading gun rights advocacy group, country, kicked off its annual meeting on Friday en Houston.
Leading Republicans, including former President Donald Trump and US Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, attended the convention. Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott, who was scheduled to address the convention in person on Friday, canceled his appearance.
*With information from AP and Reuters.
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