UVALDE, Texas (AP) – Authorities say nearly 20 officers gathered in the hallway of a Texas elementary school for more than 45 minutes before agents used a master key to open a door and confront a gunman.
Steven McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at a contentious news conference Friday that children repeatedly called 911 from inside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, where 18-year-old Salvador killed 19 students and two teachers.
Following McCraw’s statement, Governor Greg Abbott spoke about the delayed response during a briefing in Uvalde.
“I was misled. I am livid about what happened,” Abbott said. “My expectation is that the law enforcement leaders that are leading the investigations, which includes the Texas Rangers and the FBI, they get to the bottom of every fact with absolute certainty.”
McCraw says the commander at the scene believed Ramos was barricaded inside the classroom and that the children were not at risk, and that “It was the wrong decision.”
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(WBAP/KLIF Contributed to this Report.)