Uvalde School Shooting Could Have Been Stopped In 3 Minutes: Official

AUSTIN, TX — There were enough officers to confront the gunman at the May school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, within three minutes after he entered the school, and officers never checked the classroom door to see if it was unlocked, the state's top public safety official testified Tuesday.

Instead, officers waited more than an hour before a tactical team led by Border Patrol agents entered the classroom and killed the shooter in an exchange of gunfire. Law enforcement's response to the shooting was an "abject failure and antithetical to everything we have learned over the past two decades," Steve McCraw, director of the Department of Public Safety, said at a state Senate hearing.

McCraw's testimony is the latest criticism from officials regarding law enforcement's response to the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School, which killed 19 students and two teachers.

McCraw also said Pete Arredondo, the school district's police chief and on-site commander who recently was sworn on to the Uvalde City Council, put officers' lives above the lives of the children, and blamed him for stopping other officers from entering the classroom.

Department of Public Safety officials also have been unable to "re-interview" Arredondo, McCraw said. Patch previously reported Arredondo had not yet responded to follow-up requests from the Texas Rangers around a week after the shooting.

The classroom could not be locked from the inside, and officers did not attempt to open the door. Instead they waited an hour and 14 minutes to get a key from a school employee, McCraw said.

The shooter, Salvador Ramos, fired more than 100 rounds within seconds of walking into the school, McCraw said.

Officers waited outside the classroom Ramos was in even as students inside the classroom called 911, urging dispatchers to send police to confront the shooter. Officers received pressure from parents and bystanders, who pleaded with them to confront the gunman.

This story is being updated.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.