Father of Texas school shooting victim slams cops for letting gunman rampage for 90minutes

Javier Cazares, whose fourth-grade daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, was killed in the Texas School Shooting attack, said he raced to the school when he heard about the shooting, arriving while police were still gathered outside the building.

Upset that police were not moving in, he raised the idea of charging into the school with several other bystanders.

‘Let’s just rush in because the cops aren’t doing anything like they are supposed to,’ he said.

‘More could have been done. They were unprepared.’

He added: ‘There were at least 40 lawmen armed to the teeth but didn’t do a darn thing until it was far too late.

‘The situation could’ve been over quick if they had better tactical training, and we as a community witnessed it firsthand.’

One woman was yelling at the police outside the school, said Juan Carranza, 24, who lives opposite.

He said she was screaming: ‘Go in there! Go in there!’

Carranza said the officers did not go in.

Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw told reporters that 40 minutes to an hour elapsed from when Salvador Ramos, 18, opened fire on the school security officer to when the tactical team shot him, though a department spokesman said later that they could not give a solid estimate of how long the gunman was in the school or when he was killed.

‘The bottom line is law enforcement was there,’ McCraw said.

‘They did engage immediately. They did contain (Ramos) in the classroom.’

Meanwhile, a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation told AP the Border Patrol agents had trouble breaching the classroom door and had to get a staff member to open the room with a key.

Cazares said he wanted answers from local authorities as to why the shooter was not stopped before or during the attack.

‘I’m a gun owner and I do not blame the weapons used in this tragedy,’ he said.

‘I’m angry how easy it is to get one and young you can be to purchase one.’

The massacre is the worst school shooting in the United States since Sandy Hook in 2012 when 20 children and six teachers were killed.

Ramos on Tuesday first shot his 66-year-old grandmother Cecilia Gonzalez in the face, leaving her severely injured, before stealing her pickup truck and driving towards the school.

Unable to drive, he crashed into a ditch and then ran to the school on foot, where he was met by an armed security guard.

Yet he was still able to enter the school and kill 21 people – and was not stopped until around 1 pm when a Border Patrol agent backed up by a tactical team shot him dead.

One of those involved in training schools on how to deal with an active shooter lost his wife in Tuesday’s tragedy.

Ruben Ruiz, 43, a veteran detective and SWAT team member, works as a police officer for the school district, and on March 22 held an active shooter drill at the school.

His wife Eva Mireles, 44, was one of the two teachers killed by Ramos on Tuesday.

Uvalde, home to 16,000 people, is 80 miles west of San Antonio.

Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), said on Wednesday that a ‘brave’ school resource officer ‘approached him’ and ‘engaged him’ – but added that ‘gunfire was not exchanged.’

He did not explain why.

The New York Times reported that their sources said at least one armed law enforcement officer from the Uvalde school district was at the school, and that officer exchanged gunfire with the gunman, but the gunman was able to get past.

Ramos was carrying an AR-type rifle, which he had bought the week before, on turning 18.

He purchased one of the rifles on May 17, and the following day he bought 375 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition. Ramos purchased another rifle on May 20 and posted pictures of the guns on Instagram.

He was also wearing ‘a tactical vest carrier with no ballistic panels,’ said Lt. Chris Olivarez, the DPS’s spokesperson.

Ramos then made it into the school, running down a hallway to two adjoining classrooms.

He barricaded himself inside the fourth-grade classroom run by teachers Irma Garcia, 46, and Mireles.

‘And that’s where the carnage began,’ McCraw said.

All of the 19 children who died were inside one classroom.

Officers were unable to enter it, The New York Times said.

Olivarez said some of the officers were shot by the gunman, so others began breaking windows around the school trying to evacuate children and teachers.

Ramos remained there until a tactical unit from the Border Patrol killed the gunman, shortly after 1pm, according to state police reports.

Olivarez said ‘tactical law enforcement’ forced their way into the classroom, where ‘they were met with gunfire as well, but they were able to shoot and kill that suspect.’

The unnamed agent who shot and killed Ramos is believed to be from the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC), which has specialized agents dispersed throughout the United States.

The BORTAC agent, whose identity has not yet been revealed, rushed into the school without waiting for backup.

Ramos was behind a barricade, returning fire, but the border patrol agent managed to shoot and kill the gunman before he could claim more victims.

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Father of Texas school shooting victim slams cops for letting gunman rampage for 90minutes