The mayor of Uvalde says he supports plans to make public 77 minutes of video depicting a massacre at an elementary school taking place as police stood by and did nothing.
Mayor Don McLaughlin stated on Friday that he supports the Texas House Special Committee’s tentative intentions to disclose the videos of the Robb Elementary School tragedy from May 19 on Monday.
In light of growing concerns about why Salvador Ramos, the 18-year-old shooter who killed 19 students and two teachers, wasn’t apprehended sooner in his rampage, he said he hoped broadcasting the video will ‘provide clarification to the public’
There are still unanswered concerns about why Ramos was let to confine himself in a classroom with his victims for 77 minutes before being shot dead by two police officers.
Two cops wearing ballistic shields and carrying weapons were seen in the school hallways at 11:52 a.m. on the morning of the massacre in the lone photograph that has so far been made public.
That is an hour before anybody made an effort to rescue others who were locked in the classroom with Ramos, igniting outrage across the country.
The clips should show Ramos entering the building and stalking its corridors
19 minutes earlier, Ramos had started shooting after entering the school.
However, police would not enter the classroom where he was killing children until 58 minutes had passed, despite the fact that the new photograph demonstrates they had a way to both defend themselves and kill Ramos.
It has been revealed that Texas police with a ballistic shield and rifle were inside the Uvalde school’s hallways 19 minutes after the shooter entered the building. This raises concerns about why the policemen did not enter the classroom for another 58 minutes.
Parents and family members of the 19 students and two teachers who were killed on May 24 are enraged and demanding an explanation for why the 18-year-old shooter was allowed to carry out his murderous spree for over 90 minutes.
At 11:33 when he arrived at the school, he was shot and killed at 12:50.
According to Pete Arredondo, the police chief for the Uvalde school district, he believed the shooter was holed inside, away from the students, and desired additional equipment for the police before they entered. However, cops outside were pleading with Arredondo to let the kids in as they were dialing 911 pleading for assistance.
The Austin-American Statesman got the first images from inside the school last month, which showed cops in the hallway at 11:52 a.m.
One is armed with a long rifle and a ballistic shield. The other is holding a weapon.
It took police 58 minutes to break down the door and kill the shooter, Salvador Ramos.
The photograph will put even more pressure on the police to reveal what they knew and when they knew it.
The fresh photograph and maybe additional ones will be disclosed at a hearing on Tuesday in Austin where further information will be given.
The paper also obtained damning transcripts showing Arredondo asking for help.
Three minutes after Ramos entered the building, 11 officers were inside.
At 11:40am, seven minutes after Ramos set foot inside Robb Elementary, Arredondo called Uvalde Police Department and asked for help.
‘It’s an emergency right now,’ he said.
‘We have him in the room. He’s got an AR-15. He’s shot a lot.
‘They need to be outside the building prepared because we don’t have firepower right now. It’s all pistols.’
Arredondo added: ‘I don’t have a radio. I need you to bring a radio for me.’
Four minutes later, at 11:44am, body camera footage picked up more shots from the gunman.
After the shooter shut himself inside, the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Chief Pete Arredondo assumed command and erroneously believed there were no other students present.
The cops were then visible in the shot at 11:52am wearing a ballistic shield.
According to the bodycamera transcripts, one officer remarked, “If there are kids in there, we need to go in there.”
Someone else said, “Whoever is in control will decide that.”
Arredondo urged that the cops find the keys to unlock the door even though they had weapons.
Another cop with a ballistic shield entered the school at 12:03 p.m., and third police followed two minutes later.
Around 12:20pm – 45 minutes after the attack began – Arredondo tried to speak to the gunman, and then wondered whether he could be killed from outside the classroom.
Arredondo asked if officers would consider ‘popping him through the window?’
He suggested: ‘Get two shooters on either side of the window? I say we breach those windows and shoot his (expletive) head off through the windows.’
As soon as the gunman closed himself inside, Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Chief Pete Arredondo, who was in charge, believed there were no more students alive in the room.
At 11:52 am, the image changed to show the cops wearing ballistic shields.
According to the recordings from one officer’s body camera, “If there are kids in there, we need to go in there.”
Whoever is in charge will decide that, another person retorted.
Arredondo urged that even though the cops had firearms, they find the keys to unlock the door.
A second cop entered the school at 12:03 p.m. with a ballistic shield, and third police followed two minutes later.
As Ramos continued his killing spree while armed police stood silently in the corridor, the footage indicates that students and staff were confined inside classrooms 111 and 112.
The shocking report from the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training at Texas State University exposes “lost opportunities to save lives.”
One police officer reportedly observed the gunman outside the school but did nothing, according to the report that was made public last week.
The report states that the officer “did not hear a response [on his radio] and turned to request confirmation from his supervisor.”
‘When he turned back to address the suspect, the suspect had already entered the west hall exterior door at 11:33:00.’
The Mayor said last month he disputed the report’s findings, and said in a statement in part, that ‘it was a coach with children on the playground, not the shooter.’