As of: 06/21/2022 7:12 p.m
After the killing spree at an elementary school in Texas, further serious mistakes by the police have become known. At least nine officers waited outside the classroom for almost an hour, even though they had protective gear and guns.
Almost a month after the massacre at an elementary school in the US state of Texas, more dramatic errors in the police operation are known. At a hearing in the Texas Senate, Texas Public Safety Director Steven McCraw said just three minutes after the shooter entered a classroom and opened fire, nine police officers were outside the room, two of them with guns. More were gradually added.
Waiting for the key – although the door was open
McCraw said the door to the classroom wasn’t even locked as far as we know. But none of the police officers present tried to simply open the door. Instead, the operations manager waited for reinforcements, more guns and protective equipment – and for a key to the classroom “that was never used”.
None of this was necessary, McCraw argued. In such a situation, if in doubt, a police officer with a gun is enough to go in and stop the gunman – even if that poses a risk for the officer. “Once you are there, it is your duty to intervene immediately and stop the shooter.”
“Miserable Failure”
The police officers outside the room had guns, protective gear and training for such situations, but the children had none, McCraw said. Nevertheless, the students and teachers had to wait “an hour, 14 minutes and eight seconds” for special forces to enter the room to save them. “This is intolerable.” The head of operations made “terrible decisions”. He decided to put police officers’ lives ahead of children’s lives. McCraw spoke of “miserable failure”.
The revelation that the gunman had been at the school for more than an hour before being killed by emergency services caused an outcry from the parents of the dead children. Critics accused the police of having acted too sluggishly.