Texas officials address questions about law enforcement's response time to Uvalde shooting
UVALDE, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) — Texas' lead investigator on the Uvalde school shooting case called a news conference Thursday afternoon to address questions about law enforcement's response time.
However, the new information from state officials raised even more questions, including why there wasn't a security officer at the school at the time the gunman arrived and why the backdoor of the school was left unlocked.
After crashing his pickup truck and hopping a chainlink fence, the gunman faced almost no resistance to gain access the school.
"He walked in undisrupted initially," Texas DPS South Regional Director Victor Escalon said."He was not apprehended by anybody to clear the record on that."
SEE MORE: Uvalde School Shooting: The Aftermath of Tragedy
Officials say two local police officers made it to the scene just minutes after the gunman made entry but were met with gunfire. So instead of going in, they called for backup.
A Border Patrol tactic team arrived 30 minutes later and immediately entered the school. Officers from multiple agencies fired at the gunman.
The Texas DPS director said the gunman was in the school for an hour before he was killed.
"As I look at the information I've been privy to, the agents responded as quickly as anyone could in a situation like this — not knowing exactly what they were walking into," United States Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said. "They showed tremendous heroism — all of them."
As to why that backdoor was unlocked — that's a question investigators are still trying to figure out. But the lack of a resource officer could've been attributed to a staffing issue as the district has only six officers and nine campuses.
