At least eight 911 calls were made from classrooms at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, between 12:03 p.m. — half an hour after the 18-year-old gunman entered the building Tuesday — and around 12:50 p.m., when Border Patrol agents and police finally stormed in and shot him dead.
Why it matters: Local and state law enforcement officials in Texas are facing intense criticism for why it took so long for officers to confront and stop the Uvalde shooter inside two connected fourth-grade classrooms.
What we know: ...
- The on-site commander, chief of the Uvalde school district's police department, believed that the gunman was barricaded inside the classrooms and that children were no longer at immediate risk.
- "It was the wrong decision, period," Steven McCraw, head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at a briefing Friday.
- Standard law enforcement protocols call for police to confront an active school shooter without delay, rather than waiting for backup or more firepower. McCraw, whose voice choked with emotion at times, said: "We're here to report the facts, not to defend what was done," according to Reuters.
- Most of the kids trapped with the gunman were 9- or 10-years-old.
- In a call a minute-long call at 12:03 p.m., a girl whispered that she was in Room 112 — more than 45 minutes before a Border Patrol tactical team used a janitor's key to open on of the locked classroom doors.
- Videos showed anguished parents outside the school,