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Disclaimer: The video footage, audio, and events described in this story are disturbing. Discretion is advised.
Video has been released of the Uvalde law enforcement response to the shooting that took place at Robb Elementary School
The video, obtained by the Austin American-Statesman, shows the 18-year-old gunman crashing his truck into a nearby ditch and firing shots before entering Robb Elementary School.
Law enforcement enters the school three minutes after the gunman with body armor on and guns drawn heading down the hallway towards the gunman.
Gunfire is then heard from the classroom where the gunman was, and officers retreat down the hallway where they remained for over an hour.
Uvalde video confirms police waited as children died
One of the officers on the scene had his gun taken away and was escorted from the scene after trying to move forward to save his dying wife, who had called him saying “she had been shot and was dying.”
According to Texas Department of Public Safety Director Col. Steven McGraw, Ruben Ruiz “tried to move forward into the hallway. He was detained and they took his gun away from him and escorted him off the scene.”
Col. McGraw testified before the Texas Senate committee and called the Uvalde response an “abject failure”.
Abject failure.
The words used by Texas DPS Director Steve McGraw in a scathing evisceration of the police response in #Uvalde, specifically, the on-scene commander.
This is during testimony for special called Texas Senate committee meeting. pic.twitter.com/FUJSaDFvq9
— Chris Sadeghi (@chrissadeghi) June 21, 2022
Col. McGraw placed the blame of the Uvalde law enforcement response on “the on-scene commander,” who was Uvalde School District Police Chief Pere Arredondo.
“The only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers from entering room 111 and 112, was the on-scene commander, who decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children,” McCraw said.
Arredondo was placed on administrative leave last month by Uvalde School District Superintendent Hal Harrell “because of the lack of clarity that remains and the unknown timing of when I will receive the results of the investigations.”
Link to Black Wall Street Times>