Police in the US state of Texas waited too long during the shooting at an elementary school on Tuesday before entering the classroom where 18-year-old Salvador Ramos opened fire. Officers believed there was no immediate threat. Steven McCraw, the state’s chief security officer, said at a news conference Friday.
Several people who were present in classrooms in the school during the shooting called 911. At least one child and one teacher would have called multiple times. “Please send the police now”, a girl is said to have told the emergency center.
That happened long after Ramos broke into the school. The police did arrive on the scene, but waited in a corridor of the school for reinforcements from a specially trained police team.
In hindsight, that was not the right choice, McCraw said on Friday. The police waited 45 minutes before entering the room. That took so long because the police thought that a person had barricaded himself in the room.
Nineteen children died
Nineteen children and two adults were killed in the shooting. It is the deadliest school shooting in the United States since the Sandy Hook shooting in December 2012, which killed a total of 26 adults and children.
Ramos eventually died in the shooting when the police shot him dead. The boy also shot and killed his grandmother before the incident.