Gunman entered Texas elementary school unobstructed, was inside for an hour

The gunman who massacred 19 kids and two teachers at a Texas elementary faculty Tuesday was inside for more than an hour earlier than he was killed in a shootout, legislation enforcement authorities said Thursday amid mounting public anger and scrutiny over their response to the rampage.

A media briefing known as by Texas safety officers to clarify the timeline of the attack provided bits of previously unknown information.

By the time it ended, though, it had added to the troubling questions surrounding the attack within the city of Uvalde, including concerning the time it took police to succeed in the scene and confront the gunman, and the obvious failure to lock a college door he entered.

After two days of providing usually conflicting information, investigators stated that a college district police officer was not inside Robb Elementary when 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos arrived round 11:30 a.m. local time, and, contrary to their previous stories, the officer had not confronted Ramos exterior the building.

Instead, they sketched out a timeline notable for unexplained delays by legislation enforcement in responding to the attack.

Ramos crashed his truck close to the again of the school at 11:28 a.m., then fired an AR-style rifle at two individuals popping out of a close-by funeral dwelling, stated Victor Escalon, regional director for the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Ramos then entered the school "unobstructed" by way of an apparently unlocked door at about 11:40 a.m., Escalon said.

However the first law enforcement officials did not arrive on the scene until 12 minutes after the crash and didn't enter the school to pursue the shooter till 4 minutes after that. Inside, they had been pushed again by gunfire from Ramos and took cover, Escalon stated.

The crisis came to an end after a group of Border Patrol tactical officers entered the varsity roughly an hour later, at 12:45 p.m., stated Texas Division of Public Security spokesperson Travis Considine. They engaged in a shootout with the gunman, who was holed up in a fourth grade classroom. Radio chatter at 12:58 p.m. indicated that he was dead.

Within the hour in between, the officers called for backup, negotiators and tactical teams, while evacuating college students and teachers, Escalon said.

But he largely ignored questions about why officers were not able to stop the shooter sooner, saying he had "taken all those questions into consideration" and would supply updates.

Ken Trump, president of the consulting firm Nationwide School Security and Security Companies, mentioned the size of the timeline raised questions.

"Primarily based on finest practices, it's extremely difficult to understand why there were any kinds of delays, particularly when you get into experiences of 40 minutes and up of moving into to neutralize that shooter," he stated.

Many different details of the case and response remained murky. The motive for the bloodbath — the nation's deadliest faculty capturing since Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., a decade ago — remains below investigation, with authorities saying the gunman had no identified criminal or mental well being history.

Throughout the siege, annoyed onlookers urged cops to charge into the varsity, in keeping with witnesses.

"Go in there! Go in there!" girls shouted on the officers soon after the assault began, said Juan Carranza, 24, who watched the scene from outside a home across the street.

Carranza said the officers should have entered the college sooner: "There have been extra of them. There was simply certainly one of him."

Texas Division of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw defended the agency Wednesday, saying, "The bottom line is legislation enforcement was there. They did engage immediately. They did include him in the classroom."

Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz did not give a timeline however stated repeatedly that the tactical officers from his agency who arrived on the faculty did not hesitate. He said they moved rapidly to enter the constructing, lining up in a "stack" behind an agent holding up a defend.

"What we wished to verify is to act shortly, act swiftly, and that's precisely what these agents did," Ortiz informed Fox News.

However a law enforcement official mentioned that after within the constructing, the Border Patrol brokers had trouble breaching the classroom door and needed to get a employees member to open the room with a key. The official spoke on situation of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly concerning the investigation.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Lt. Christopher Olivarez advised CNN that investigators were trying to determine whether or not the classroom was, in actual fact, locked or barricaded not directly.

Javier Cazares, whose daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, was killed within the assault, said he raced to the school when he heard about the taking pictures. 

When he arrived, he stated he saw two officers outside the varsity and about five others escorting college students out of the building. However 15 or 20 minutes passed earlier than the arrival of officers with shields, outfitted to confront the gunman, he said.

As more mother and father flocked to the varsity, he and others pressed police to act, Cazares mentioned. He heard about 4 gunshots earlier than he and the others had been ordered again to a car parking zone.

"Plenty of us had been arguing with the police, 'You all need to go in there. You all must do your jobs.' Their response was, 'We will not do our jobs since you guys are interfering,"' Cazares said.

U.S. President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, will journey to Uvalde, Texas, on Sunday to console families and honour the victims of Tuesday's shooting.

The White Home said the Bidens would "grieve with the community that misplaced 21 lives in the horrific" taking pictures at Robb Elementary College. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the president would meet with the community, local spiritual leaders and the victims' households.

Making the announcement, Jean-Pierre echoed Biden, who in remarks Tuesday evening, spoke from private expertise concerning the pain of shedding a baby, and referred to as on the country to tighten gun laws in response to the capturing.

'"When in God's identify are we going to face as much as the gun foyer?" he said. "Why are we willing to stay with this carnage? Why can we maintain letting this occur?"

Before attacking the college, Ramos shot and wounded his grandmother at the home they shared.

Neighbour Gilbert Gallegos, 82, who lives across the road and has recognized the household for decades, mentioned he was puttering in his yard when he heard the pictures.

Gallegos said he noticed a automobile racing away from the house: "He spun out, I mean fast, spraying gravel within the air."

The grandmother soon emerged from the home, coated in blood.

"She says, 'Berto, this is what he did. He shot me,' " he recalled.

Gallegos stated he had heard no arguments before or after the shots, and knew of no history of bullying or abuse within the home.

Front Burner20:06A Sandy Hook mother on one other school taking pictures