Texas massacre: Police accused of inaction, handcuffing and spraying pepper spray on parents to prevent interference

Two days after the massacre at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where Salvador Ramos shot and killed 19 children and two teachers, new details are beginning to emerge that have put the spotlight on the actions of the police.

Several people who witnessed the incident reported witnesses urging police to enter the school, with one even considering doing so on his own, frustrated by the officers' lack of action, the BBC reported.

Initial reports, coming from the Department of Public Safety, stated that an armed officer who worked at the school had confronted Ramos the moment he arrived at the school. Victor Escalon, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, told a news conference Thursday that that information is incorrect. "There was no officer available and armed," Escalon said.

On Tuesday morning, Salvador Ramos shot her grandmother in the face and proceeded to drive to Robb Elementary School. According to the timeline of events presented Thursday by Escalon, Ramos crashed the truck into a ditch at 11:28 am. He then began shooting at people gathered at a funeral home across the ditch, prompting a 911 call to report that someone with a gun was at the school around 11:30.

It was then that Ramos jumped an 8-foot-high fence, according to Escalon's report, he entered the school grounds and began shooting, before entering the building at 11:40 without being stopped. The first police officer appeared on scene at 11:44 and exchanged gunfire with Ramos, who proceeded to lock himself in a 4th grade classroom. There he killed students and teachers.

A Border Patrol tactical team entered the school an hour later, around 12:40, and was able to enter the 4th grade classroom and kill Ramos.

Some witnesses told The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that "the police were doing nothing." Angeli Rose Gómez, a farm supervisor, and one of the mothers who were outside the school, stated that she had been handcuffed for, according to the police, "interfering in an ongoing investigation".

"They were just standing outside the fence. They weren't going to go in or run anywhere," the woman said.

Gomez said several parents asked the officers, first politely, then urgently, to enter the school. Moments later the police put her in handcuffs on him. Gomez also claimed to have seen other parents thrown to the ground and pepper-sprayed by police.

The WSJ further reported that Gomez reported seeing a police officer allegedly use a stun gun on a father who approached the school bus in an attempt to contact her son.

Journalist Megan Menchaca posted the WJS story on her Twitter account with the message: "A mother of two in Uvalde was handcuffed after urging police and law enforcement to enter the school."

"Once freed from the handcuffs, she jumped over the school fence, ran inside it and ran out with her children," she added.

A mom of two children at Uvalde was put in handcuffs after urging police and law enforcement to enter the school.

Once freed from her cuffs, she jumped the school fence, ran inside and sprinted out with her kids.

New from @WSJ: https://t.co/SYdgysw0gF pic.twitter.com/ZCadllw9aT

— Megan Menchaca (@meganmmenchaca) May 26, 2022

The alleged fact was also criticized by journalist Mark Hemingway, who, on his social network, called for "a serious reckoning with the police about how they handled Uvalde," if the details published by the WSJ are true.

If the details in this WSJ report are true, hoo boy. There needs to be a SERIOUS reckoning with law enforcement for how they handled Uvalde. https://t.co/Bk8DbdinSJ pic.twitter.com/aE0txKwTmo

— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) May 26, 2022

After the confrontation ended with Ramos dead, school buses began to arrive to transport students from the school, according to Ms. Gomez. She said she saw police use a Taser on a local father who approached the bus to collect his child.https://t.co/HgwAz3Awx6 via @WSJ

— Catherine Lucey (@catherine_lucey) May 26, 2022

In an attempt to respond to the growing criticism, agent Victor Escalon, spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) in Texas, offered a press conference this Thursday in which he defended the way to act of the forces of order.

However, Escalon acknowledged that the attacker had a free pass to enter the building, correcting previous accounts that said he had been confronted by an agent.