They reveal new details of the police action in the Uvalde massacre 2:32
(CNN) --
Eleven officers, including Uvalde School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, were inside Robb Elementary School within the first three minutes after a gunman entered on May 24, he told CNN. a police source close to the investigation.
This as new reports provide a closer look at what police officers were doing as they waited more than an hour to confront the attacker.
After the gunman shot at officers and hid in connecting rooms 111 and 112, where he shot and killed 19 students and two teachers, police officers remained stationed in an adjacent hallway.
Pete Arredondo, who has been identified by other agents as the incident commander on the scene, had previously told the Texas Tribune that agents had found classroom doors locked and reinforced with a steel jamb, making it difficult to any possible response or rescue.
Efforts were made to locate a key to open the door, he said.
However, preliminary evidence suggests that none of the officers had tried to open any of the doors until moments before shooting down the attacker, the source revealed, among other details, in a report by the Texas Tribune and the Austin American-Statesman.
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The school's police chief and local authorities have faced heavy criticism for the time that elapsed before the attacker was killed and emergency services were able to reach the victims.
The shooter entered one of the classrooms at 11:33 a.m. and began shooting, according to a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) timeline of the attack, and was there when officers killed him at 12:50 p.m. p.m
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A review of surveillance footage and transcripts of radio traffic and phone calls from the Tribune, which says the details were confirmed by a senior state DPS official, put the gunman shooting inside classroom 111, leaving briefly through the door, then going back inside and opened fire.
Moments after the shooting began, 11 officers arrived on the scene, according to the Tribune report, which was confirmed by the law enforcement source to CNN.
Arredondo called the Uvalde Police Department shortly after the gunman opened fire on the officers, according to the source, asking for more help and saying he did not have his radio on.
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The Tribune notes that "by the time Arredondo called dispatch, at least 11 officers had entered the school and at least two are seen on video carrying rifles. But Arredondo told the dispatcher he did not have the firepower to engage the officers." lone attacker".
A security video image obtained by the Austin American-Statesman shows at least three officers in the hallway, two of whom have rifles and one officer who appears to have a tactical shield, at 11:52 a.m., 19 minutes after that the attacker entered the school.
"If there are kids in there, we have to go in there," an agent said, according to the American-Statesman.
Another policeman responded: "Whoever is in charge will determine that."
At least one of the officers, at 11:50 am, appears to believe that Arredondo was leading the police response inside the school, telling others, "The boss is in charge," according to the Tribune.
Arredondo had previously told the Tribune that he did not consider himself the incident commander that day.
Officers had access to four ballistic shields inside the school, the Tribune said, citing a police transcript, the fourth of which arrived 30 minutes before officers stormed the classrooms.
Within the first few minutes of his response, an officer also said that a Halligan, a firefighting tool used for forced entries, was on the scene, according to the Tribune.
However, the tool was not brought to the school until an hour after officers arrived and was never used, the Tribune said.
Towards the end of the confrontation, according to the police source, Arredondo wondered aloud if the officers would consider "throwing him out the window."
A body camera transcript showed Arredondo indicating to other officers at 12:46 p.m. that if a SWAT response team was ready, they should break down the door, an action that occurred four minutes later.
CNN has contacted Arredondo's attorney, George Hyde, and the Uvalde Police Department regarding the reports.
A Texas House committee investigating the school shooting is meeting again in Austin on Tuesday, with witnesses including Colonel Steven McCraw, director of the Texas DPS.
McCraw is to describe evidence taken from surveillance video inside the school, and will also bring a physical door from Robb Elementary to demonstrate its locking mechanism, according to the law enforcement source close to the investigation.
-- CNN's Rosalina Nieves and Dave Alsup contributed to this report.
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