Texas official: Uvalde classroom door unlocked during shooting as officers waited for keys: 'Abject failure'

The head of the Texas Department of Public Safety said Tuesday that Uvalde police could have stopped the mass shooting at Robb Elementary within three minutes, calling their response an "abject failure."

Testifying before a special Texas Senate committee hearing, Col. Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, told lawmakers that "There is compelling evidence that the law enforcement response to the attack at Robb Elementary was an abject failure and antithetical to everything we’ve learned over the last two decades since the Columbine massacre."

"The officers had weapons, while the children had none. The officers had body armor, the children had none. The officers had training, the subject had none," McCraw said Tuesday. "One hour, 14 minutes and eight seconds. That’s how long the children waited, and the teachers waited, in Room 111 to be rescued. And while they waited, the on-scene commander waited for radio and rifles. And he waited for shields, and he waited for SWAT. Lastly, he waited for a key that was never needed."

The classroom door, which Fox News Digital first reported was physically brought into the state capitol for Tuesday's hearing, was unlocked, but officers never even tried to open it, McCraw said.

Some of the LEOs were evacuating the rest of the school, you know, saving lives but every single officer who waited outside that classroom for “orders” to go in should be fired and prosecuted. They had just had active shooter training two months before. And it just makes sense to storm that room and blow the perp into a million pieces. I guarandamntee you that if my kid had been in there, they couldn’t have kept me out. A MOTHER ran in and got her two out. They are worse than cowards.

“But teachers have been instructed to shelter in place, creating sitting ducks for an active shooter. It is stupid and needs to end. “

The training I took at the Sheriff’s office five years ago or so (it’s called A.L.IC.E.) only has you shelter in place if the shooter is very close to you, like right outside your door. Of course sending kids through the windows is what you do if you can get them out safely.

Part of the Alice system is notifying the school where the threat is. Teachers can call the office or do an all school call if they know where the threat is. Classes far the from the threat head to the woods. (It’s a rural school).

But if the shooter is at your door, as a teacher, your job is to keep the door closed. Of course it should be locked, but a loop on a rope (dear lord not a noose!!) or even a stout belt can help keep the door closed. Every classroom door I’ve seen opens outward into the hall. If the walls are solid the teacher should be safe while holding the door closed.

The door can be barricaded with classroom furniture. The whole point is to keep the threat out of the classroom. If that fails, you don’t duck and cover but attack with anything you can get your hands on. At that point what does anyone in the room have to lose?

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