DPS Director Steve McCraw says officers in Uvalde could have taken down gunman within 3 minutes had commander not hesitated

Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw told a state Senate committee Tuesday that police could have stopped the shooter at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde three minutes after arriving were it not for the indecisiveness of the on-scene commander, who placed the lives of officers before those of children.

[Watch live: DPS Director Steve McCraw testifies before Texas Senate committee on Uvalde shooting]

McCraw said the inexplicable conduct by Uvalde school district police Chief Pete Arredondo was antithetical to two decades of police training since the Columbine High School massacre, which dictates that officers confront active shooters as quickly as possible.

“The officers had weapons; the children had none,” McCraw said. “The officers had body armor; the children had none. The officers had training; the subject had none. One hour, 14 minutes and 8 seconds. That’s how long children waited, and the teachers waited, in Room 111 to be rescued.”

Arredondo, who testified in closed session to a House committee on Tuesday, told The Texas Tribune that after he and another officer determined the doors to the adjoining classrooms containing the shooter were locked, the best course of action was to wait for more officers, firepower, keys and a breaching tool.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2022/06/21/texas-dps-mccraw-uvalde-school-shooting/.

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