As media outlets and social media users alike rush to condemn the Uvalde Police Department for their decision making and response time during the Texas elementary school shooting, Texas Senator John Cornyn is attempting to lower the temperature
On Tuesday 18-year-old Salvador Ramos walked into Robb Elementary school and opened fire, killing 19 children and two teachers. Even though police were inside the school within minutes of the start of the attack it took more than an hour before Ramos was killed.
Sen. Cornyn took to Twitter saying the criticism is not fair,
“The second guessing and finger pointing among state and local law enforcement is destructive, distracting, and unfair. Complex scenarios require split second decisions. Easy to criticize with 20-20 hindsight…There will be plenty of time to sort this out later. Focus now should be on through investigation and lessons learned to prevent future tragedies, not finger pointing.”
Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw admitted that Uvalde police made the ‘wrong decision’ when they changed their response approach from ‘active shooter’ to ‘barricaded suspect saying,
“In hindsight… it was the wrong decision. There was no excuse for that.”
McCraw said that police didn’t think any children were in danger in the classroom that Ramos was in so instead of taking Ramos down they waited for tactical teams to arrive.
Ramos entered the school an hour earlier at 11:33 a.m. through a door that was propped open by a teacher. With in minutes Ramos fired off more than 100 rounds in two classrooms.
Police entered the building through the same door at 11:35 a.m. At that point McCraw said that police believed there “may not be anybody living anymore” in the classroom that Ramos barricaded himself in so officers stayed in the hallways waiting for a tactical team to arrive.
The elite Border Patrol teams showed up to the school at 12:15, arrived at the classrooms at 12:21, breached the doors at 12:50 and killed Ramos nearly an hour and a half after Ramos entered the school.
The three 911 calls that were made by a child inside the classroom were placed at 12:36 p.m., 12:46 p.m., and 12:47 p.m.
