Uvalde gunman was student in same classroom of victims years ago
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) — Weeks after the Uvalde school shooting there are still lots of questions looming about what took place, especially regarding the timeline and what took officers so long to breach the classrooms where the shooter was.
Since the beginning, Col. Steve McCraw, the Director of Texas Public Safety blamed Uvalde CISD Police Chief Peter Arredondo for not giving orders sooner to enter the classrooms.
McCraw said there is compelling evidence that the law enforcement response to the attack was a failure.
He said there were several officers inside the building in the early minutes of the shooting that were ready and prepared to go inside the classroom but did not because they were not ordered to.
"The only thing stopping the hallway of dedicated officers from entering [rooms] 111 and 112 was the on-scene commander who decided to place the lives of officers before the lives children," McCraw said. "The officers had weapons; the children had none. The officers had body armor; the children had none. The officers had training, the subject had none."
McCraw gave more insight into the shooter as well. He said the gunman attended Robb Elementary in the 4th grade for one year and he was a student in the same classroom where children were killed.
The senate meeting is expected to last throughout the day on June 21. Others from the department of public safety are expected to speak. Arredondo is also on the witness list, but it's still unclear if his testimony will be public.
