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Texas public safety chief calls police response to Uvalde school shooting an 'abject failure'

Texas School Shooting
Posted at 8:36 AM, Jun 21, 2022
and last updated 2022-06-21 15:25:13-04

A timeline of the police response to the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas was presented to lawmakers in the state on Tuesday.

The timeline shows the 18-year-old shooter crashed his vehicle at 11:28 a.m on May 24. Three minutes later, authorities say he began firing at Robb Elementary School. Seconds later, a patrol car drove past the shooter, the timeline states.

The shooter entered the school at 11:33 a.m. and began shooting into classrooms 111/112 seconds later.

Three officers with the Uvalde Police Department entered the school two minutes later. They were equipped with two rifles, authorities said.

Five more officers arrived seconds later.

"Three minutes after the subject entered the west hallway, there was sufficient number of armed officers wearing body armor, to isolate distract and neutralize the subject," testified Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McGraw. He also called the response an "abject failure."

At 11:41, a Uvalde officer says that they believe the suspect is barricaded in one of the offices.

"There's still shooting," the officer says.

At 11:44, another round of gunfire is heard.

Ballistic shields are brought in eight minutes later.

At 11:54, a Department of Public Safety special agent asks whether kids are still in the room. An officer responds by saying, "It is unknown at this time."

An unknown officer is heard saying, "Y'all don't know if there's kids in there?"

The special agent says, "If there's kids in there, we need to go in there."

Officers waited more than an hour before going into the room and killing the shooter. The response conflicts with best practices for responding to a mass shooting, which say authorities should immediately confront the shooter.

Twenty-one people died in the attack, including 19 students and two teachers.