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The school district police chief who was one of the first officers to arrive at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, didn’t have a police radio with him when responding to the incident, according to a report.
Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department Chief Pete Arredondo didn’t have a police radio with him when responding to a shooting at the elementary school which left 19 children and two adults dead on May 24, according to a report from the New York Times.
Arredondo’s lack of an available police radio could have slowed law enforcement’s response to the shooting, according to the report.
Arredondo used a cell phone to call a police landline, informing them of the active shooter situation.
TEXAS SCHOOL SHOOTING: LIVE UPDATES
A police officer comforts family members at a memorial outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Thursday, May 26.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Inside the elementary school, the on-scene commander was convinced that the threat to children had ended and believed they were dealing with a barricaded subject, which was not the case.
During a press conference on Friday, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw said that the on-scene commander at Robb Elementary School during the mass shooting “was convinced at the time that there was no more threat to the children,” adding that it was believed that the situation went from an active shooter to a barricaded subject.
“The on-scene commander considered a barricaded subject and that there was time and there were no children at risk. Obviously, you know, based on the information we have, there were children in that classroom that were at risk, and it was, in fact, still an active shooter situation and not a barricaded subject,” McCraw said.
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A woman visits at a memorial at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Wednesday, June 1, to pay her respects to the victims killed in last week’s school shooting.
(AP/Jae C. Hong)
Salvador Ramos, the alleged school shooter, was inside the elementary school for one hour before being shot and killed.
Police officers responding to the incident are facing steep criticism over their handling of the incident as new evidence is released.
“Go in there! Go in there!” one woman yelled at police officers, according to Juan Carranza, 24.
UVALDE, TEXAS SCHOOL SHOOTING: TIMELINE OF MASSACRE THAT LEFT AT LEAST 19 CHILDREN, 2 TEACHERS DEAD
A memorial is seen surrounding the Robb Elementary School sign following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 26, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas. According to reports, 19 students and 2 adults were killed, with the gunman fatally shot by law enforcement.
(Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Javier Cazares went to the school after learning of the shooting since his daughter attended school there, and said that the police officers were staying outside.
His daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, died in the shooting.
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Cazares suggested at one point that a group of people “rush in because the cops aren’t doing anything like they are supposed to. More could have been done. They were unprepared.”
