(CNN) — When an armed man entered a primary school in Uvalde, Texaslast week and started shooting, a student says her teacher, wounded by the bullets, had to text 911 for help.
Daniel, 9, along with his mother, Briana Ruiz, told CNN that the gunman fired multiple shots in his classroom at Robb Elementary School after being unable to enter. The door had been locked by her teacher, and the bullets hit her and a classmate.
Daniel hid “under a table by the wall,” and said he could see the attacker through the window in the door.
“I could see his face from where I was,” he said. “I could see him looking at the people in front of me.”
Daniel was later able to get out through a broken window and cut his hand on some glass, he said. The two people injured in his class survived. However, his cousin, Ellie Garcia, was in another class and was one of the 19 children and two teachers who died in the shooting.
Was the police response to the Texas shooter timely enough?
The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) exposed the chronology of the shooting Tuesday, showing the attacker was in a classroom with students for more than an hour before he was shot dead by a Border Patrol tactical response team. However, doubts remain as to whether the police response was timely enough as to avoid more victims.
At the request of the mayor of Uvalde, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that will conduct an investigation about the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
“The goal of the investigation is to provide an independent account of law enforcement actions and responses that day, and to identify lessons learned and best practices to help first responders prepare for and respond to active shooter events,” the DOJ said in a statement Sunday.
Alfred Garcia, whose daughter was killed in the shooting, told CNN he was “in disbelief” at how long the shooting took before it was over and shared his frustration with authorities’ response.
“It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that it took too long to get here and if they had gotten here sooner and someone had acted immediately, we could have more of those kids here today, including my daughter,” he said.
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden they visited Uvalde on Sunday to show their condolences, they attended a mass and laid flowers in a tribute to the victims. They also met privately with the families of the victims and with the first responders.
Funeral services for the victims will begin Monday, and Uvalde funeral homes have agreed to cover the families’ expenses.
Police response questioned
The performance of the first responders – or the lack of it – during the shooting is one of the main arguments of those who say that more should have been done sooner.
Police officers in Texas are trained to intervene quickly, according to the 2020 state law enforcement commission training manual active shooter guidelines obtained by CNN, which states that “a police officer’s first priority is to get in and engage the attacker.” “.
“As first responders we must recognize that innocent life must be defended,” he says. “A first responder who is unwilling to put the lives of innocents above his own safety should consider another career path.”
Seven officers arrived at the scene two minutes after the attacker opened fire in the classroom. Three officers approached the locked classroom where the shooter was, and two officers suffered grazing injuries from bullets fired from behind the door, DPS said. The agents then positioned themselves in the corridor.
Border Patrol agents belonging to a specialized unit they arrived at the place around 12:15 pm, approximately 45 minutes after the attacker started shooting. The policeman in charge had already determined that the subject was barricaded in the room, according to a source familiar with the situation.
The team then did not break into the classroom for at least another 30 minutes, according to the timeline provided by DPS. Since the Border Patrol often serves in a support role, they will be referred to the agency in charge, according to the source.
In a 911 call made at 12:16 p.m., according to DPS, from a girl in one of the classrooms where students were shot, the girl told the operator that eight or nine students were still alive.
Asked Friday why officers didn’t move sooner, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw said “subject was believed at the time to be motionless and barricaded,” adding that they believed “There was no risk to other children.”
“In hindsight, from where I’m situated right now, there were clearly children in the room, they were clearly at risk,” McCraw said. “There may be children who are injured, who may have been shot but are injured and it is important to save lives to come immediately and provide help.”
A police officer cleans the makeshift memorial ahead of President Joe Biden’s visit to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Sunday.
community unites
In the aftermath of the shooting, there is an outpouring of support for members of the community.
Carlos Hernandez, whose restaurant is a mile from Robb Elementary School, wrote on Facebook hours after the shooting: “There is no possible way to open my kitchen with a broken heart and have fun doing it.”
On Thursday, her 33rd birthday, Hernandez decided to cook for the community, whipping up her favorite dishes like wings, macaroni and cheese and fried fish tacos.
Within two hours, Hernandez had handed out more than 60 family-size trays to feed grieving families and neighbors still learning to cope with the tragedy inflicted on their close-knit community.
“It’s a really tough situation, I’m just trying to show the kids that they have us as their backbone and support system,” Hernandez told CNN. “We always help them, whether or not there are incidents.”
Elsewhere in Uvalde, the El Progreso Memorial Library became a place of healing.
On Wednesday, just one day after the shooting, children’s librarian Martha Carreon sat in front of rows of faces, reading, singing and laughing with the children, leading them to a safe place away from the school where many of them witnessed the horror.
“We want our building to be a safe space, a haven that is a quiet, calm, cool place,” El Progreso Memorial Library director Mendell Morgan told CNN.
Along with psychologists who will be available every day of the week for children and adults to talk, there will also be massage therapy practitioners, volunteers for arts and crafts activities, pianists to play relaxing music, and even magicians to perform. professional magic shows
“This is a strong community where we care about each other,” Morgan said. “Many if not most here hold on to their faith by believing in God, that good is stronger than evil and light is stronger than darkness.”
CNN’s Alaa Elassar, Ed Lavandera, Amanda Watts, Hannah Sarisohn, Virginia Langmaid, Paula Reid, Priscilla Alvarez, Christina Maxouris, Holly Yan and Aya Elamroussi contributed to this report.