The head of Texas’ chief public safety agency weighed in on law enforcement’s purportedly inept response to last month’s mass shooting on Tuesday, which claimed the lives of 21 people at a South Texas elementary school, according to Austin CBS affiliate KEYE.
Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Director Colonel Steve McCraw addressed lawmakers, KEYE reported, explaining that mistakes were made during the May 24 incident at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
According to KEYE, McCraw testified that while police had weapons to take on the 18-year-old shooting suspect, officers allowed so much time to go by before taking action.
“One hour, 14 minutes and eight seconds,” the DPS leader said, Houston CBS affiliate KHOU reported citing The Associated Press (AP).
McCraw also talked about police supposedly waiting on a master key to access the classrooms and not attempting to open doors.
Austin-based media outlets reported that he labelled law enforcement’s overall efforts an “abject failure.”
McCraw also told legislators how one officer, whose wife was among the fatalities, had his weapon seized and was restrained when he learned that she was en route to the hospital and mere minutes from succumbing to her injuries, the AP and KHOU reported.
“We got an officer whose wife called him and said she’d been shot and she’s dying,” the director explained. “He tried to move forward into the hallway. He was detained, and they took his gun away from him and escorted him off the scene.”
KEYE reported that McCraw identified Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (UCISD) Chief of Police and new Uvalde City Council member Pete Arredondo as the on-scene commander during the shooting.
McCraw, while showing the incident timeline to the state senators, indicated that Arredondo took nearly an hour before signaling the officers to move in, the station reported.
“At the end of the day, you’ve got to get in there. Plain and simple,” McCraw said.
Senate hearings on the shooting have eclipsed two days.
