https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...08866f4c2be7e6#block-6290fcac8f08866f4c2be7e6
Texas officials: 'No excuse for not tackling shooter'
The head of the Texas department of public safety has said “there’s no excuse” for officers not trying to break into an elementary school classroom where a gunman was killing 19 students and two teachers.
Steven McCraw was facing questions over law enforcement’s response to Tuesday’s shooting at Robb elementary, at a lunchtime briefing.
Reporters wanted to know why law enforcement officers waited outside for about an hour while the killing continued, and before a Swat team eventually breached the classroom and shot the killer dead.
“It was the wrong decision,” McCraw conceded.
“The on-scene commander at the time believed it had transitioned from an active shooter to a barricaded subject,” he said, adding the commander thought “there were no children at risk”.
“Obviously, based upon the information we [now] have, there were children in that classroom at risk”.
Asked about a “40-minute gap” in which 911 operators were aware children were alive, but officers still didn’t go in, he added:
The decision was made that this was a barricaded subject, there was time to retrieve the keys and wait for a tactical team … that was the decision, that was the thought process.
With the benefit of hindsight, of course it was not the right decision, it was the wrong decision. Period. There’s no excuse for that.
