Your Evening Briefing: Texas Police Under Siege for ‘Wrong Decision’
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Emergency personnel gathered outside Robb Elementary School on May 24 in Uvalde, Texas. Parents of children in the school said they pleaded with police to confront the gunman, but police delayed for an hour and 18 minutes and kept parents from going in themselves. One official reportedly said the delay was to avoid injury to police. Nineteen children and two teachers were shot dead.
Photographer: Dario Lopez-Mills/APTexas state and local police are under siege for their shifting explanations as to why they stood by for an hour and 18 minutes as a gunman shot 21 people dead, including 19 children, inside an elementary school classroom. Heavily armed federal agents reportedly arrived much earlier than previously stated by Texas police, but were prevented by them from entering the school. When asked why a crowd of law enforcement officers gathered outside the school in Uvalde, Texas, didn’t move in earlier, one Texas police official explained that they “could’ve been shot.” Later, police said they thought the gunman was barricaded by himself inside the school, though students calling 911 indicated otherwise. By the end of Friday, Texas police admitted to making the “wrong decision.” Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said: “If I thought it would help, I would apologize.”
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