UVALDE TALE OF THE TAPE

Well-armed cops in minutes

Multiple police officers

med with rifles and a ballisc shield can be seen on sureillance footage inside Robb

ementary School just 19 inutes after the gunman arved, yet law enforcement still waited roughly an hour to breach the classroom where the shooter carried out his deadly rampage last month.

The new details were reported by the Austin American Statesand man KVUE on Monday, and mark the latest revelations into the botched police response to the May 24 mass shooting in Uvalde,

exas, that left 19 students and wo teachers dead.

The video from inside the chool showed the officers standin ng a hallway at 11:52 a.m. At 11:33 a.m., gunman Salvador Rabroke mos into the school through an exterior door that had failed to automatically lock.

The video contradicts earlier reports that Uvalde school district Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who was in charge of the police response, was waiting for tactical gear and a protective shield before moving on the gunman.

“There were 19 officers in there,” Col. Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at a media briefing days after the mass shooting. “In fact, there were plenty of officers to do whatever needed to be done, with one exception — the incident commander inside believed they needed more equipment and more officers to do a tactical breach at that point.”

The security footage as well as police body camera video shows the officers had sufficient firepower and protection to take out the gunman much sooner than they did, according to the American Statesman.

The first officer with a ballistic shield who entered the school questions why they weren’t attempting to enter the classroom. “If there’s kids in there, we need to go in there,” the officer says in body cam footage.

At 12:03 p.m., an officer with another shield arrives, followed by a third two minutes later, according to KVUE.

After attempting to talk with Ramos, Arredondo tells SWAT officers who arrived that they should breach the classroom door as soon as they were ready at 12:46 p.m.

They reportedly finally busted into the room four minutes later and shot Ramos dead.

Based on footage from the incident and Arredondo’s own testimony, it’s believed some of the delay was based on his attempts to find keys to unlock the classroom door — although it was unclear if it was even locked.

Police did not even check or try to open it, despite having access to a Halligan tool which could have broken the lock, according to the San Antonio Express News.