The Last 90 Minutes of Gunman Fireworks Questions About Police Response At Uvalde School –

WWALD, Texas (AP)-At 11:28 a.m. a Ford pickup truck crashed into a ditch behind a Texas junior high school and the driver jumped from an AR-15 rifle.

Twelve minutes later, authorities said, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos was in the hallway of Robbie Elementary School. He soon entered the fourth grade. And there he killed 19 students and two teachers in inexplicable cramps of violence.

At 12:58 p.m., a law enforcement spokesman said Ramos had been killed and the siege was over.

What happened during those 90 minutes in a working-class neighborhood near the Uvalde town border sparked growing anger and public outcry in response to the law enforcement attack on Tuesday.

“They say he rushed,” said Javier Casares, whose fourth-grade daughter, Jacqueline Casares, was killed in the attack and was on her way to school when the massacre happened. “We haven’t seen it.”

On Thursday, authorities largely ignored questions about why officers hadn’t stopped the killer earlier, with Victor Escalon, Texas director of public safety, telling reporters that “he kept all the questions this ”and offered himself. then.

At a press conference called by Texas security officials to clarify the timing of the attack, he provided previously anonymous information. But by the time he was finished, he had added disturbing questions about the attack, including how long it would take police to get to the scene and confront the gunman, and apparently failed to lock the school door. he entered.

After two days of often conflicting information, investigators said the school district police officer was not at the school when Ramos arrived and, contrary to their earlier reports, Officer Ramos did not address him outside the building.

Instead, they set deadlines, which are notable for unexplained delays in law enforcement.

After the truck collided, Ramos fired at two people coming out of a nearby funeral home, Escalon said. He then entered the school “unhindered” through a door that seemed to open around 11:40 p.m.

But the first police did not arrive at the scene until 12 minutes later and entered the school to chase the killer after four minutes. Inside, they retreated by shooting Ramos and covering up, Escalon said.

The crisis ended after a group of tactical border patrol officers entered the school nearly an hour later, at 12:45 p.m., said Travis Considine, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Security. They vowed to fire a concealed gun in the fourth grade. Died before 1pm

Escalon said it was during this time that reserve officials, negotiating and tactics teams were called during the evacuation of students and teachers.

Ken Trump, president of consultancy National School Safety and Security Services, said the length of the deadline raised doubts.

“From best practices, it’s very hard to understand why there was a delay, especially when it comes to 40 minutes to neutralize this shooter,” he said.

Many other details of the case and the answer remained unclear. The motive for the massacre – the deadliest school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut – nearly a decade ago – remains under investigation and authorities say Ramos has no known criminal or mental health history.

Witnesses said that during the siege, frustrated bystanders called police to raid the school.

“Come there! Come in! The women shouted at officers shortly after the attack began, said Juan Caranza, 24, who was watching the scene from outside the house across the street.

Karanza said officers should have gone to school earlier: “There’s more. That’s just one.”

Border Patrol Police Chief Raul Ortiz did not specify the time, but it has repeatedly said that his agency’s tactical officers who came to the school did not hesitate. He said they quickly moved towards the entrance of the building, lining up behind the “pile” behind the officer holding the shield.

“What we want to make sure is act fast, quick, and that’s exactly what these agents did,” Ortiz told Fox News.

But a law enforcement official said when inside the building officers had difficulty opening the classroom door and had to get an employee to open the room with a key. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.

A spokesman for the Department of Public Security, Lt. Christopher Olivares, told CNN that investigators are trying to determine if the courtroom is, in fact, closed or barricaded in any way.

Casares said when he arrived, he saw two officers outside the school and five others carrying students out of the building. But it took 15 to 20 minutes before the shielded officers arrived to confront the armed culprit, he said.

As more and more parents attended school, he and others were forced to take action by the police, Casares said. He heard about four gunshots before he and the others returned to the parking lot.

“Many of us argued with the police: ‘You all need to come in.’ You have to do all your work. ‘ Their response was, “We can’t do our job because you’re interfering,” Casares said.

As for the school gun officer, he was driving nearby but he was not on campus when Ramos was hit by a truck, said a law enforcement officer who was not authorized to hear the case and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Investigators determined that the school official was not between the school and Ramos, so he did not face the killer until he entered the building, a law enforcement official said.

Michael Dorn, executive director of Safe Havens International, which discusses school safety, warns that it’s hard to have a clear understanding of the facts after the hunt.

“The information we have two weeks after the event is usually very different from what we get in the first day or two. And it’s usually pretty inaccurate as well,” Dorn said. For catastrophic events, ” it usually takes eight to twelve months before you get a decent picture. “

Bleiberg’s report from Dallas.

Learn more about shooting in Waldo, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/school-shootings