Texas Top Cop Reveals in Stunning Testimony Cops Never Checked Not-Locked Uvalde Classroom Door

Texas Department of Public Safety director Steven McCraw revealed yet another stunning detail about the police response to the Uvalde massacre: cops never checked the classroom door to see if it was locked.

McCraw — who became the face of the outrageous police response by conducting several disastrous press conferences updating reporters as the cops’ story changed in real time — testified Tuesday at a Special Texas Senate committee hearing on the massacre at Robb Elementary School that claimed the lives of 19 children and two adults.

Texas State Senator Brandon Creighton grilled McCraw about whether the cops who showed up had rifles, and whether they ever checked the door, which McCraw earlier stated turned out never to have been locked.

Creighton’s questioning yielded several disturbing details, such as scene incident commander Pete Arredondo‘s assessment that they had “contained” the shooter in a nonexistent “office,” and that video evidence showed no cops tried the door prior to the eventual breach:

SEN. CREIGHTON: So just to be clear, again, within 3 minutes of the shooter entering the building, 9 officers were in the hallway with pistols and rifles. And within, at the five-minute mark, Chief Arredondo was heard saying “He’s contained in this office.” Is there an office on the floor plan that you provided as an exhibit?

STEVE MCCRAW: Not that I’m aware of. It’s as referenced the particular rooms. There’s a janitor room, there’s a restroom. But there’s, you know, I don’t know. It’s not an administrative building. The cities were classrooms.

SEN. CREIGHTON: So in a school within days of a summer break, wouldn’t it be reasonable to assume that kids were in the classroom? When making decisions about determining whether or not it’s an active shooter protocol or a barricaded intruder.

STEVE MCCRAW: It’s it’s more than reasonable to assume that there were children inside those classrooms. Room 111 or 112.

SEN. CREIGHTON: There’s many references about Chief Arredondo, though, about the door being locked and needing keys and more keys and a master key and just constant references to keys. But is there any evidence whatsoever that shows, through the video as it was examined later, that the door was ever — that there was an attempt to open the door or test whether or not it was locked?

STEVE MCCRAW: We could never see anybody put their hand on the door. And of course, up until up until the breach. And then at the last, at the breach, we’ve gone back and talked to the breachers. Reinterviewed the breaches. And they said, no, they didn’t try the door handle beforehand.

SEN. CREIGHTON: And then there’s a reference to a sledgehammer and a hooligan [Halligan]. And those are separate.

STEVE MCCRAW: Yes, sir.

SEN. CREIGHTON: And then so was there any reason, within your experience in law enforcement training overall, why either the door wouldn’t have been checked as to whether or not it was locked? Understanding there’s gunfire, but with a hooligan and with an available sledgehammer, what would be a reason why the door would not be checked? And why would Chief Arredondo keep referring to the fact that kids were needed through the minutes and what ultimately ended up being 77 minutes of delay?

STEVE MCCRAW: Well, respectfully, sir, what I one of the reasons we wanted to have an outside independent review by subject matter experts is so they can ask those, answer those types of questions, because then becomes my professional opinion as opposed to what’s consistent with doctrine. And what I would suggest that doctrine, I go back again is very simple. You don’t wait for a SWAT team, right? No time for a SWAT team. If you’ve got one officer, that’s enough.

Watch above via KVUE.