Psychotic, Armed and Geared to Slaughter

"When the cops came, the cop said, 'Yell if you need help!' And one of the persons in my class said 'help'. The guy overheard and he came in and shot her."

"The cop barged into that classroom. The guy shot at the cop. And the cops started shooting. I was hiding."

"And I was telling my friend to not talk because he is going to hear us."

Child survivor of Uvalde elementary school massacre

"There were five or six of us [parents] hearing the gunshots and [officers] were telling us to move back."

"We wanted to storm the building. We were saying, 'Let's go because -- we wanted to get our babies out."

Javier Cazares, father of 4th grade Jacklyn Cazares, killed

Jan C. Hong, AP Photograph

 

It seems now that the initial narratives of police attempting to stop an armed man from entering an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, were replete with some inaccuracies, since cleared up. There was no one stationed at the school by policing authorities to ensure that unauthorized individuals would not enter where hundreds of vulnerable young children were anticipating their last few days of school before summer recess might be fun days. 

 

As it really happened, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, dressed in black including protective gear and holding a high-powered rifle had no problem entering the Robb Elementary School by the unlocked front door. In fact, he lingered for awhile unchallenged, before finally entering. He had driven to the school in a truck after first shooting his grandmother in the face. She managed to call 911. Now hospitalized in intensive care she may survive.

All the while the young terrorist was acting out his psychotic impulses he was emailing his exploits to a contact. He barricaded himself into a grade four classroom, where he commenced shooting disbelieving and cowering children and their two teachers. Nineteen children, ages nine to ten shot to death, and alongside them two long-serving teachers at the school who loved their job and loved their students even more. 

 

The Uvalde school district locked classroom door policy failed them all.

One young boy revealed his experience when a classmate was shot and killed when she called out for help, acting on the advice of police. He and four other students hid beneath a table with a tablecloth shielding their presence from view. The rampager had crashed his pickup truck, and shot at two men who began to approach to ask if he needed help. Then he walked into the school at 11:40 a.m. on Tuesday.  

 

Four minutes later two responding officers entered the school; when Ramos fired at them they took cover.

Parents from the community whose children were inside the school had gathered, pleading with police to storm the building. Some of the men, fathers of children inside, were restrained. In a video posted to Facebook parents were seen breaking through yellow police tape, screaming at officers present to enter the building. Another video posted on YouTube showed one adult being restrained by officers. Two officers knelt on a person while others shouted "There's shooting!", and "What the f--- are you doing?"

Following the 1999 Columbine massacre, guidelines were developed instructing officers of the law that in such situations they were to immediately target the gunman. A fourth-grader in the classroom where the massacre took place described the gunman shooting before entering the class and when he came in, he crouched down and said: "It's time to die".

Associated Press