After more than an hour — with the hallway growing more crowded with officers from different agencies — the doorway of the classroom was breached by law enforcement and the gunman shot and killed.
The release of the footage was particularly painful for the victims’ families, including a group of parents and relatives who said they were blindsided Tuesday while in Washington, DC, to speak with elected officials. They expected to see the footage Sunday, when the Texas House Committee investigating the shooting planned to show it to the families before releasing it to the public.
“We get blindsided by a leak,” said Angel Garza, whose 10-year-old daughter, Amerie Jo, was killed. “Who do you think you are to release footage like that of our children who can’t even speak for themselves, but you want to go ahead and air their final moments to the entire world? What makes you think that’s OK?”
“They just didn’t act. They just didn’t move,” Uvalde County Commissioner Ronald Garza said on CNN’s “New Day” on Wednesday. “I just don’t know what was going through those policemen’s minds that tragic day, but … there was just no action on their part.”
“Even if we see 77 minutes in a hallway, it’s not going to tell us who was in charge or who should have been in charge. And I think that’s the sad statement of what happened on May 24 … that no one was in charge.”
Regardless of who was in charge, each officer had a duty to act, North Richland Hills Police Department Chief Jimmy Perdue told CNN on Wednesday. Perdue is president of the Texas Police Chief’s Association.
“I believe that the training is very clear on what we are supposed to do,” Perdue said. “Even a single officer has the responsibility to go stop the killing. And that did not happen.”
Police waited over an hour to confront gunman, video shows
In the first edited video, which is a little over four minutes long, audio captures frantic teachers screaming as the gunman crosses the parking lot after crashing his truck just outside Robb Elementary School’s campus.
He then enters the school at 11:33 a.m., turns down a hallway carrying a semi-automatic rifle, walks into a classroom and opens fire. As the shots ring out, a student who had been peeking around the hallway corner at the gunman quickly turns and runs away.
Minutes later, officers rush into the hallway and approach the door, but immediately retreat to the end of the hall when the shooter appears to open fire at them at 11:37 a.m. Law enforcement continues to arrive in the crowded hallway but do not approach the door again until 12:21 p.m. and wait until 12:50 p.m. to breach the classroom and kill the gunman.
A second edited video, lasting almost an hour-and-a-half, was also published on the newspaper’s YouTube channel.
In the footage, the sound of children screaming has been edited out, but the stark sounds of gunfire are still clearly audible and the gunman’s face is briefly shown as he comes through the school doors.
“You hope that each time you watch (the video) that the outcome will be different,” Perdue said, “that somebody will step up and this time it’ll be different. This time somebody will actually go in the door. But that did not happen and we all know the outcome.”
Perdue could not explain the delayed response, saying only that “human frailties kicked in.”
“There are absolutely times in a tactical situation where you are supposed to hold and not advance on whatever the situation is. But there’s just as many times when you are supposed to be pushing and pushing the issue towards the gunfire and towards the gunman,” he said.
Holding back in this case, he said, “was not the right decision and the one that I’m sure they regret as well, and one that we’re going to have to assess as a profession.”
Officials harshly criticize video’s early release
Local officials have also been critical of the release of the footage, including Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin, who said, “There’s no reason for the families to see that.”
“I mean, they were going to see the video, but they didn’t need to see the gunman coming in and hear the gunshots,” McLaughlin said. They don’t need to relive that, they’ve been through enough.”
McLaughlin also shared his disappointment that a person close to the investigation would leak the video, calling it “very unprofessional” during a City Council meeting Tuesday.
“While I am glad that a small portion is now available for the public, I do believe watching the entire segment of law enforcement’s response, or lack thereof, is also important,” the chairman of the state House Investigative Committee, state Rep. Dustin Burrows (R) tweeted.
“I am also disappointed the victim’s families and the Uvalde community’s requests to watch the video first, and not have certain images and audio of the violence, were not achieved,” he wrote.
What will happen next
The report will show that there was not one individual failure on May 24, but instead a group failure of great proportions, the source said. Members of the committee also asked the director of Texas DPS, Col. Steve McCraw, to testify a second time on Monday to get further clarification on earlier sworn testimony before the Texas House and Senate, according to the source.
“If you are a true friend please do not share it, I don’t want to see it in my feed nor do I want to be tagged on any of the news stations that are sharing it. Our hearts are shattered all over again!,” Cazares wrote.
The Uvalde school district has scheduled a meeting on July 18 where McLaughlin said he hopes the City Council and victims’ families will be able to get details about the return to school.
CNN’s Steve Almasy, Andy Rose, Elizabeth Joseph, Taylor Romine, Shimon Prokupecz, Eric Levenson, Cheri Mossburg, Christina Maxouris, Mary Kay Mallonee, Vanessa Price and Dave Alsup contributed to this report.
