Many Uvalde Students Still Alive While Police Delayed Response: Report

UVALDE, TX — More than a dozen children were still alive while law enforcement officers waited over an hour to confront the gunman during the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, according to a New York Times report.

Documents and video obtained by The Times showed Uvalde school police chief Pete Arredondo was worried about the length of time it was taking to secure shields and other protective equipment for officers to engage the shooter.

The documents showed that Arredondo and other officers at the school discovered not everyone in the classrooms had already died, according to the report.

Officials are investigating whether any of the 19 students and two teachers killed in the attack could have been saved if they had received medical attention sooner. Three children died at area hospitals, and one teacher died in an ambulance, according to the report.

In prerecorded video testimony shown to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Wednesday, 11-year-old Uvalde survivor Miah Cerrillo detailed how the shooter, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, entered the classroom through a door adjoining the neighboring classroom and shot her teacher in the head before shooting her classmates.

She smeared a classmate's blood all over herself and "just stayed quiet" to avoid being shot. Cerrillo also called 911 and told dispatchers to send police into the classroom, she told the panel.

While police waited to engage the shooter, parents and bystanders pleaded with officers to enter the classroom.

Local law enforcement agencies have been intensely scrutinized for their response to the shooting. The first officers reached Robb Elementary School at 11:44 a.m., four minutes after the gunman entered the school through a back door. But police waited more than an hour before entering the classroom with a key provided by a school employee and killing the shooter in an exchange of gunfire.

This story is being updated.