‘Abject Failure’: Texas Top Cop Shreds Uvalde Police Putting ‘Lives of Officers Before Lives of Childen’

Texas Dept of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw began his opening remarks at a hearing in Texas by laying into the police response to the massacre at Robb Elementary in Uvalde that claimed 21 lives.

At a special state Senate committee hearing on Tuesday, McCraw said there is still a lot to be investigated, but the evidence is clear on the failures of the police on the day of the horrific school shooting.

“We do know this. There’s 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,” said McCraw in his opening statement to the committee.

“Three minutes after the subject entered the West building, there were a sufficient number of armed officers wearing body armor to isolate, distract, and neutralize the subject. The only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers from entering room 111 and 112 was the on-scene commander, who decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children,” said McCraw. “The officers had weapons. The children had none. The officers had body armor. The children had none. The officers had training. The subject had none.”

“One hour, 14 minutes and 8 seconds. That’s how long the children waited, and the teachers waited in rooms 111 to be rescued,” McCraw testified. “And while they waited, the commander waited for radio and rifles. Then he waited for shields. Then he waited for SWAT. Lastly, he waited for key that was never needed,” he said.

He added that the “post-Columbine doctrine is clear and compelling and unambiguous: Stop the killing. Stop the dying.”

“You can’t do the latter unless you do the former,” said McCraw.

Watch the clip above from the Texas State Senate.