Student Pleaded With 911 To ‘Send The Police Now’ As Officers On Scene Waited For Tactical Units To Arrive

Topline

Texas authorities fleshed out their timeline Friday on the police response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday that left 21 dead and 17 injured, as it emerged that some parents pleaded with officers to go inside the school to save their children from the gunfire while the police waited for tactical units to respond because the incident commander classified the situation as a barricaded suspect.

Police officers stand near a makeshift memorial for the shooting victims at Robb Elementary School … [+] in Uvalde, Texas, on May 26, 2022. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)

AFP via Getty Images

Key Facts

11:27 a.m., Tuesday: A teacher propped open an exterior door of Robb Elementary, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

11:28 a.m.: Uvalde Police received first reports of a crashed vehicle and a man with a backpack, some form of body armor and armed with a rifle.

The suspect, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, jumped out of the passenger side of the vehicle and walked toward a funeral home across the street from the wreck, where he fired shots toward two people in the parking lot of the funeral home, who ran away uninjured.

Juan Carranza, who lives across the street from Robb Elementary, told the Associated Press he saw Ramos crash his truck into a ditch outside of the school, grab a rifle and fire shots toward the people outside of the funeral home.

11:31 a.m.: Ramos begins firing into classrooms while walking down the street toward the school, as responding officers drive by the suspect while responding to the reports of the crashed vehicle and man with a gun near the funeral home.Ramos then climbed a fence into the school parking lot and continued firing rounds at the school.

11:33 a.m.: Ramos walked into the school through the door that was propped open.DPS officials said previous statements that a school resource officer confronting the suspect before entering the school were not accurate—the school officer was “not on campus” that day, according to DPS Director Steve McGraw, though the school’s officer responded after hearing 911 calls.

Ramos walked through several hallways before entering classrooms 111 and 112, firing at least 100 rounds, within minutes of entering the school.

11:35 a.m.: The first three Uvalde police officers on the scene enter the school through the same door Ramos used, followed by another four officers.

Two of the seven officers received graze wounds from Ramos firing toward them from inside a locked classroom.

11:37 a.m. to 11:44 a.m.: Ramos fires at least 16 additional rounds.

11:43 a.m.: That’s when the school announced it was going on lockdown, local news outlet KSAT reports, which is the same time Uvalde Police posted on Facebook asking for people to avoid the area of the school due to a large police presence.

11:44 a.m.: Several law enforcement agencies arrive on the scene and attempt to make entry, but have to retreat when Ramos fires shots toward them.

Victor Escalon, South Texas regional director of DPS, said during a press conference Thursday afternoon that while making calls requesting tactical units and specialized equipment, officers were working to evacuate students and teachers, but Escalon did not address reports that some responding officers evacuated their own children first.

11:51 a.m.: A police sergeant and additional agents started to arrive on the scene.

12:03 p.m.: A 911 caller from inside room 112 whispers to the operator, “He’s in room 112,” while there were as many as 19 officers in the hallway of the school at the same time.

12:10 p.m.: The caller called back and said multiple people were dead.

12:15 p.m.: Members of BORTAC, an elite U.S. Border Patrol tactical team, arrive on the scene.

12:16 p.m.: The 911 caller called back again and said there were eight to nine students still alive inside room 112.

12:17 p.m.: Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District posts on its Facebook and Twitter accounts that there was an active shooter at the school.

12:19 p.m.: A person in room 111 called 911, but hung up after another student told her to hang up.

12:21 p.m.: The caller in room 111 called again, and three gunshots could be heard on the call.

12:21 p.m.: Shields and other protective gear for officers arrive on the scene, and law enforcement begin to move down the hallway—nearly an hour after Ramos entered the school.

12:47 p.m. A student in room 111 called 911 again and said, “Please send the police now.”

12:50 p.m.: Law enforcement breached the locked doors of the classrooms using keys obtained from a janitor, and killed the gunman, nearly an hour and a half after Ramos barricaded himself inside the classrooms.

12:51 p.m.: Officers can be heard moving children out of the rooms on a 911 call.

1:06 p.m.: The Uvalde Police Department wrote in an update on Facebook the shooter was in police custody—almost two hours after the first 911 calls came in.

What We Don’t Know

It is unclear why the school resource officer was not on campus at the time of the shooting. It is also unclear why the incident commander on the scene determined it was no longer an active shooter situation. By classifying it as a barricaded suspect, the officers believed they needed more equipment and more officers to do a tactical breach. McGraw said Friday it was the “wrong decision” and added that officers no longer considered it to be an active shooting because they believed there was no risk to other children as there “may not be anybody living anymore.”

Chief Critic

Video footage shared on social media appeared to show desperate parents screaming and arguing with officers outside the school to go inside, shouting “get in there,” while one video appears to show an officer on top of an adult near a school bus. Javier Cazares, whose fourth-grade daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, was killed in the attack, told the Associated Press he proposed charging into the school with other bystanders after he saw police officers gathered outside of the school while the gunman was inside. “Let’s just rush in because the cops aren’t doing anything like they are supposed to,” Cazares said. “More could have been done. They were unprepared.”

Big Number

1,657. That’s how many rounds of ammunition Ramos brought, according to McGraw, and he fired 315 rounds inside the school. Investigators found a total of 58 magazines on school property.

Key Background

Ramos legally purchased two AR platform rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition last week, just days after his 18th birthday, authorities said. Prior to beginning the rampage, Ramos sent three messages on Facebook saying he was going to kill his grandmother, followed by a message confirming he had shot her in the head, according to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. The third message, about 15 minutes before the shooting, stated he was going to shoot an elementary school. Ramos also discussed purchasing guns in March on Instagram in a chat with four other users, according to McGraw. Ramos posted “10 more days” in an Instagram post caption, leading another user to ask if he planned to shoot up a school. Ramos replied, “Stop asking dumb questions and you’ll see,” according to McGraw. Ramos’ grandmother survived the shooting and is in stable condition at an area hospital.