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Authorities walked back initial reports that an armed school resource officer had engaged the 18-year-old gunman, who made his way into the school unchallenged through an unlocked door at 11:40 a.m.
During the chaotic period, Escalon said, officers helped evacuate students and teachers from other parts of the school, while calls went out for more personnel and firepower. Asked whether officers should have stormed the classroom earlier, Escalon said, "That's a tough question," and authorities were still gathering information regarding the response.
Escalon said Texas Rangers head the investigation to determine, in part, how the gunman entered the building so easily.Neighbors and parents screamed and pleaded with officers to go into the school and save the children.Sources close to the investigation, not authorized to speak on the record, said the review of law enforcement actions is routine after a major incident, but it has intensified in this case because of differing accounts from neighbors and witnesses about what police did and when.Live shooting updates: The Texas Rangers, the state’s premier law enforcement agency, are also looking at the Uvalde Police Department response.According to the Uvalde County Independent School District Officers protocol, "secondary campuses have staff who patrol door entrances, parking lots and perimeters of the campuses." Robb Elementary is fenced to limit or restrict access to classrooms, where teachers are instructed to keep doors locked at all times. According to Escalon, the gunman scaled the school's perimeter fence after driving his grandmother's truck into a culvert around 11:28 a.m. The attacker took the truck after shooting his grandmother in the face. Outside the school, Escalon said, the shooter turned his weapon on two "witnesses" at a nearby funeral home, then firedThe DPS official said the gunman walked through a hallway about 40 feet, turning twice, before arriving at the classroom. Local Uvalde police arrived about 11:43 a.m. in an attempt to make entry but began taking rounds from the shooter and moved back to take cover, Escalon said. Authorities focused on an early timeline of law enforcement's convergence on Robb Elementary School, as community members pleaded for officers to storm the building. “Go in there! Go in there!” women shouted at officers soon after the attack began, said Juan Carranza, 24, who saw the scene from outside his house. The officers did not immediately enter the building, Carranza said. Javier Cazares, whose fourth grade daughter, Jacklyn, was killed in the attack, said he arrived while police were gathered outside the building. Upset that they weren't moving in, he suggested to several other bystanders that they charge into the school.
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