Texas Department of Public Safety Director Says Officers Could Have Prevented Uvalde Mass Shooting Within 3 Minutes

More information continues to pour out about the tragic mass shooting that occurred at Robb Elementary School last month.

The new details do not paint Uvalde police in a good light.

According to Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw, officers could have stopped the gunman within 3 minutes of him entering the school.

McCraw called the police response “an abject failure.”

He said that officers were armed enough and were wearing sufficient body armor to have neutralized the shooter within 3 minutes of him entering the building.

“The officers had weapons. The children had none.” proclaimed McCraw.

A top Texas law enforcement official said the police response to the Uvalde, Texas school shooting was an "abject failure" and said it was "antithetical" to the lessons learned about active shooter situations. https://t.co/oFgigNOUCQ

— NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) June 21, 2022

Here’s more on Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw’s claim as reported by NPR:

A top Texas law enforcement official said that there were enough armed police officers wearing body armor to stop the late May shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas three minutes after it began.

But instead, it took about an hour and 14 minutes from when officers arrived at the school to when they breached the door and ended the standoff with the gunman.

That was according to Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, who spoke to state officials during a Texas Senate committee hearing on Tuesday.

Uvalde officers could have stopped the gunman at Robb Elementary School within 3 minutes of him entering the building, says Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw https://t.co/T5GFQVowKY pic.twitter.com/WyFi3SYTqG

— Bloomberg Originals (@bbgoriginals) June 21, 2022

Police responding to the Uvalde school shooting had enough officers and firepower to have stopped the gunman 3 minutes after he entered the building, the head of the Texas state police testified.

He called law enforcement's response an “abject failure.” https://t.co/bzxwhCkZPn

— POLITICO (@politico) June 21, 2022

The director of the @TxDPS said that there is evidence suggesting the #UvaldePolice response to the mass shooting at #RobbElementary was an “abject failure,” and that officers could have stopped the gunman in “3 minutes.” https://t.co/0t6VjUklCY

— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) June 21, 2022

Texas Chief: Uvalde Cops Could Have Taken Down School Shooter in THREE Minutes https://t.co/YaMMIfg43t

— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) June 21, 2022

The Daily Beast with more:

The teenage gunman who last month killed 19 children and two adults at a Uvalde elementary school could have been taken down three minutes after he entered the building, the state’s top law enforcement official testified at a hearing on Tuesday.

Describing the police response to the massacre at Robb Elementary School as an “abject failure,” Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Director Steve McCraw said there was a “sufficient number of armed officers wearing body armor to isolate, distract, and neutralize the subject” just 180 seconds after Salvador Ramos, 18, started shooting inside the school.

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In all, Ramos fired off at least 171 rounds that day, according to McCraw. A total of 361 officers descended on the scene, the majority of whom were federal agents, said McCraw. The rest were local officers and as many as 91 DPS officers. The overall response was so broad, two game wardens even showed up, according to McCraw.

“The only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers from entering rooms 111 and 112 was the on-scene commander, who decided to place the lives of officers over the lives of children,” said McCraw, adding, “The officers had weapons. The children had none.”

During the #Uvalde shooting, police waited over 1 hour for a key to a classroom door that was not locked and did not try to open it, says Texas’ Dept. of Public Safety.

There were enough officers present to stop the gunman 3 minutes into the attack.

The gunman killed 21 people. pic.twitter.com/24kn3KKKs6

— AJ+ (@ajplus) June 21, 2022

ELEVEN. ELEVEN COWARDS in Uvalde entered the school within 3 minutes of the gunman and did nothing for OVER AN HOUR. How many lives could have been saved??

Absolutely infuriating. pic.twitter.com/OcF5py12k3

— Sara Gonzales (@SaraGonzalesTX) June 21, 2022

https://twitter.com/kr3at/status/1539388744863727616?s=20&t=abauhZrPrPKqtsw32x-CKg

Texas hearing: Official says police had enough officers to stop Uvalde shooter within 3 minutes https://t.co/5TPmRxAQhl I don't care what anyone says, Uvalde has a hell of a lot of wrongful death lawsuits coming their way. I hope those Republican mfers go bankrupt.

— #DonnaBidenMyPrez (@Beatles0223) June 21, 2022