AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The head of the Texas state police pronounced the law enforcement response to the Uvalde school shooting an “abject failure,” telling lawmakers that there were enough officers and firepower on the scene to have stopped the gunman three minutes after he entered the building.
Col. Steve McCraw also said officers would have found the door to the classroom where the assailant was holed up unlocked if they had bothered to check it.
Instead, police with rifles stood in a hallway for over an hour, waiting in part for more weapons and gear, before they finally stormed the classroom and killed the gunman, putting an end to the May 24 attack that left 19 children and two teachers dead.