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Parents criticize the use of the US police after the massacre in Uvalde

2022-05-27T14:18:43.203Z


The Uvalde gunman was at the primary school for an hour before the police could get to him. Parents criticize that the emergency services took too long to stop the perpetrator.


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White crosses commemorate the victims of the gunman

Photo: Chandan Khanna/AFP

After the rampage in Uvalde, Texas, the police have come under increasing criticism.

Parents accuse the emergency services of not intervening in time.

Authorities confirmed Thursday that the gunman spent around an hour in the classroom shooting at the schoolchildren and teachers.

Only then did the police enter the room.

At a press conference in the township of Uvalde, Victor Escalon of the Texas Public Safety Agency gave more details on how the crime unfolded.

Attacker Salvador Ramos entered the elementary school around 11:40 a.m. Tuesday and then entered a classroom near an entrance, he said.

The police were on site within minutes because witnesses saw the armed shooter in front of the school.

Special equipment was missing

When asked why the police didn't try to enter the classroom directly, Escalon said the officers lacked special equipment.

The door was "barricaded".

The police called for reinforcements and brought school children and teachers to safety.

She also tried to negotiate with the shooter.

He fired most of the shots at the very beginning.

During the negotiations, the 18-year-old "didn't shoot much" and tried to keep the police at a distance, Escalon said.

After about an hour, special forces arrived and shot the 18-year-old.

There had been conflicting information from the police in the past few days about the course of the crime.

Initially, it was said that the shooter had already been confronted by a security guard in front of the school.

Escalon did not confirm that.

Instead, the 18-year-old was reportedly able to enter the building unhindered through an unlocked one.

At the press conference on Thursday, the authorities came under pressure to justify themselves.

"Why don't you clarify that and explain to us how it is possible that your officers were in there for an hour (...) but no one was able to get into this room?" asked a journalist.

Recently, more and more critical voices from parents in Uvalde have been raised.

They accuse the police of acting too hesitantly.

"I told one of the officers myself if they don't want to go in, lend me his gun and a vest, and I'll go in to sort things out myself," Victor Luna told CNN.  

His son Jayden survived the massacre.

The police did their job, Luna said.

But she could have done it faster.

Other parents made similar comments.

The school massacre reignited the debate about tougher gun laws in the United States.

Former US President Donald Trump was scheduled to address the annual meeting of the powerful NRA gun lobby in Houston on Friday.

Republicans are vehemently opposed to tightening gun laws.

Trump's participation in the event has been certain for some time.

He confirmed his coming again.

"America needs real solutions and real leadership right now, not politicians and partisanship," he wrote in advance on social media platform Truth Social, which he co-founded.

US President Joe Biden had called for stricter gun laws after the bloodbath.

Corresponding initiatives by his Democrats, however, regularly fail due to resistance from Republicans and the powerful gun lobby.

"These were elementary school kids, they should lose their first teeth, not their lives," said Biden's spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre.

She announced that US President and First Lady Jill Biden planned to travel to Uvalde on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the mother of the 18-year-old gunman asked for forgiveness.

"I have no words, I don't know what he was thinking," Adriana Martinéz told Televisa in Spanish on Friday after a translation by partner broadcaster CNN.

"Forgive me, forgive my son." According to the authorities, the gunman lived with his grandparents.

Nothing is known about his motive.

kha/dpa

Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2022-05-27

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