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Flowers at the elementary school
Photo: FIR MAURY/EPA
After the school massacre in Texas in which 19 children were killed and two teachers were killed, the responsible security authority admitted to making serious mistakes in the operation.
It was wrong not to break into the classroom sooner where the gunman was holed up with students and teachers, said Texas Public Safety Director Steven McCraw in the small town of Uvalde, where the shooter died Tuesday caused the bloodbath of an elementary school.
'It was the wrong decision.
Period,” said McCraw.
"There is no excuse for that."
The head of the agency reported on Friday that 19 police officers had been stationed in the hallway in front of the classroom at an early stage, but had not tried to break into the room and stop the shooter.
Instead, the decision was made at that moment to wait for special forces.
This later turned out to be a misjudgment.
The police thought there were no more children in danger.
Children called 911
Survivors, including children, called 911 from the classroom long after 18-year-old Salvador Ramos entered the room with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle while law enforcement officers waited in the hallway outside the room for further assistance, he said McCraw.
Someone, whom McCraw could not identify, called 911 several times beginning at 12:03 p.m. and whispered to police that there were several deaths and that "eight to nine" students were still alive, McCraw said.
A student called at 12:47 p.m. and asked the operator to send the police "now."
According to McCraw, officers did not enter the classroom until 12:50 p.m. when a U.S. Border Patrol tactical team used a janitor's keys to open the locked door and kill Ramos.
When asked how many children had been shot while waiting and might otherwise have been saved, he said it was still being investigated.
"We're not here to defend what happened," he said.
"We're here to state the facts."
Parents had previously complained that the police had acted too hesitantly.
Authorities confirmed on Thursday that the shooter spent around an hour in the classroom shooting at the schoolchildren and teachers.
Only then did the police enter the room.
kha/dpa/Reuters/AP
