Texas Officials Say Officers Should Have Confronted School Shooter Sooner + The Mother Of The Shooter Asks For Forgiveness

Texas Officials Say Officers Should Have Confronted School Shooter Sooner + The Mother Of The Shooter Asks For Forgiveness

As the country is still reeling from Tuesday’s (May 24)  tragedy, new details surrounding the Robb Elementary School shooting are surfacing.

According to reports, Texas law enforcement officials now say local police were terribly wrong in their decision to wait before engaging with the gunman at the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two teachers dead. Reportedly, several police officers entered the elementary school but did not engage the gunman who was behind locked doors to two adjoining classrooms. Police have received increasing scrutiny over the past few days for the way they handled the shooting. Steven McCraw–the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety–had this to say at Friday’s (May 27) press conference:

“From the benefit of hindsight, where I’m sitting now, of course it was not the right decision. It was the wrong decision. There’s no excuse for that.”

As previously reported, On Tuesday (May 24), gunman Salvador Ramos drove to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and barricaded himself inside a fourth-grade classroom. The 18-year-old used an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle and opened fire, claiming the lives of 19 children and 2 teachers.

According to reports, Salvador Ramos legally purchased two rifles just days before the horrific event took place. In addition, Tuesday’s shooting occurred just days before the end of the school year at Robb Elementary School. Salvador Ramos was killed on the scene by law enforcement officers.

Salvador Ramos

The mother of Salvador Ramos is asking for forgiveness. According to reports, Adriana Martinez looked distraught as she spoke to local reporters. She said in Spanish,

“Forgive me, forgive my son.. I have no words to say, I don’t know what he was thinking.”

Video footage has since surfaced showing witnesses yelling at officers standing outside the school, pleading for them to enter and confront the shooter. Reportedly, the father of a student killed in the shooting proposed that the bystanders should team up to enter the school because the police were staying outside and not acting fast enough.

The Uvalde Police Department published a press release on Thursday (May 26) saying that officers allegedly responded to the attack “within minutes.” At a press conference later that day, Victor Escalon– a regional director of the Texas Department of Public Safety– said officers arrived at the school minutes after the gunman but needed to wait for reinforcements and more equipment after the shooter fired at them.

Steven McCraw–the director of the Texas public safety department– said three Uvalde police officers who arrived on the scene a couple minutes after the shooter began firing in the school, entered the building and received “grazing wounds” from the suspect. He said officers began to arrive about 15 minutes later, and up to 19 officers were present in a hallway near the classroom where the suspect barricaded himself.

McCraw went on to says members of the Border Patrol Tactical Unit arrived at 12:15 p.m. He said law enforcement officials breached the door to the classroom at 12:50 p.m. using keys from a janitor because the door was locked. At that time, the officers shot and killed the gunman.

It appears more information will continue to surface as investigators and officials are still uncovering the details of that tragic day.

What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below!

[Source: 1, 2 ]