The Texas Department of Public Safety does not fail the community after the May 24 massacre: A 911 911 Call from a Child in a Room with a Killer

The 10 year old’s clear pleas came in a 12:10p.m. call from Robb Elementary School where she was trapped with a killer. Khloie, now 11, was able to survive.

There was a kid that called as it began. He’s been in that room for an hour now,” an officer tells a newly arrived responder, apparently referring to the shooter.

The entire law enforcement response has been condemned, almost from start to finish. And agencies have blamed each other in changing narratives since the massacre on May 24, for not following up on the initial attempt to go into the classroom when the gunman fired back, to treating the suspect as barricaded but not an active threat, and long waits for equipment and specialist personnel.

Nineteen children and two teachers were killed that day, though at least one adult and one child did not die immediately. Col. Steven McCraw, the Director of the Department of Public Safety in Texas, admitted failures recently, but he insisted that his department did not fail the community.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/01/us/uvalde-911-classroom-call-delay/index.html

CNN Follows a Child in a School with a Shooting Victim: A Case Study on Uvalde-911 Class Room Call Delay

The calls were obtained from a source and are being used by CNN. CNN also informed families who lost people in the massacre that this story was coming.

Her mother, Jamie Torres, said it hurt to know Khloie called and still waited that long for help. There was no backup in there for the kids. She told CNN that nobody had armor in there. They went through a lot and had no help from the police.

“I need help … please. Have y’all captured the person?” The fourth graders is asking at 12:11 pm. And a few minutes later, “You want me to open the door now?”

She tells the operator that nobody is listening to her. “I understand what to do in these situations. I was taught by my father. Send help.

EMT! he shouts as he asks how to get to the victims in “Room 12.” One officer shrugs. Another who’s been on the scene for more than 20 minutes says, “No, we hadn’t heard that,” apparently referring to injured children.

There was a lot of confusion at the start of the massive response to the school shooting after one person was shot in the head and a truck crashed near the school.

“We don’t know if he has anybody in the room with him, do we?” asks an officer in the hallway outside the classrooms. The reply came, ‘He does.’ A number of children.

While others are talking about gas masks and shields a medic from Border Patrol arrives. He is aware of the children.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/01/us/uvalde-911-classroom-call-delay/index.html

A phone-to-phone connection to the Capitol Police, and a girl in a riot helmet: I didn’t get there that day

Later, Khloie tells police how she was using her teacher’s phone, how she knew how to make the emergency call without having to unlock the phone as it was like her dad’s.

She talked about how she had time to try to help her friends while the teacher was in the adjoining classroom, where he killed all the students and wounded her.

The girl survives. She is taken to the hospital on a school bus with other injured classmates where she’s able to speak face to face with one of the responders, saying she was on the phone.

We were for most of the time. After getting some hours of sleep, officers showed up to work the next day battered and bruised, but in an outstanding show of resilience. They showed up to the places they had been frightened about. They stood post in the crime scenes where, just hours before, they were battling for their lives. Not all of us made it out alive, so officers came to work with the knowledge.

I was going to testify before the committee about the attack at the hearing on June 9, but I was waiting in the waiting room. The sound of the hearing was heard by the people in the room and then by the people watching the TV two seconds later. If I just focused on the echo, I rationalized, I wouldn’t have to hear what was being said. I did not want to hear it. I couldn’t wait for the ordeal to be over.

And then I heard the noise that haunts me to this day: the roar of the crowd at the riot. It took me back to Jan. 6. I began sweating and shaking. “I’m not there. I’m not there,” I chanted to myself. It is over. I have not been there. But nothing was working. I could feel sweat coming down my back. I tried to take deep breaths. I knew that I was in real danger from the training I received with the Capitol Police. I took off my shoes to feel the carpet underneath my feet, and I put my hands on a wooden desk — anything to tell my body that it wasn’t back on the West Front of the Capitol that January. I must have looked insane.