The top law enforcement officer in charge during last week’s massacre at a Texas elementary school did not have his police radio with him when he arrived at the scene, a possible contributing factor in the disastrous police response to the shooting that claimed the lives of 19 children and 2 adult teachers, one of whom may have been saved had police acted quicker.
According to a New York Times report, Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department Chief Pete Arredondo’s lack of the radio “may have impeded his immediate ability to communicate with police dispatchers,” as the situation unfolded with children trapped inside of Robb Elementary School with the gunman desperately called 911 for help.
One of those calls suggests that one of the two adult teachers who was shot by 18-year-old Salvador Ramos during his killing spree could have been saved had police acted to confront the shooter rather than react as if it were a barricaded hostage situation.
In one of the 911 calls, 10-year-old Khloie Torres told a police dispatcher that “There is a lot of bodies.”
“I don’t want to die, my teacher is dead, my teacher is dead, please send help, send help for my teacher, she is shot but still alive,” she said in a call at 12:10 pm.
“She stayed on the line for about 17 minutes. Around 11 minutes into the call, the sound of gunfire could be heard,” the Times reported.
The chilling call, the transcript of which was reviewed by The New York Times did not specify which of the two teachers who were murdered, Irma Garcia or Eva Mireles the child was referring to.
(Screenshot: Irma Garcia (left) and Eva Mireles (right) via The Daily Mail)
According to The New York Times, “Khloie Torres had been watching a movie with her fourth-grade classmates in Room 112 when her teacher, Irma Garcia, told the class to go into lockdown. Ms. Garcia turned off the movie, and then rushed toward the classroom door to lock it. But she struggled to find the right key for the door. Gunfire could be heard in the hallways.”
“Ms. Garcia finally got hold of the right key, but the gunman was already there. ‘He grabbed the door, and he opened it,’ Khloie said. Ms. Garcia tried to protect her students. The gunman began firing,” the Times reported. “Khloie hid under a table, listening to more gunshots. ‘You’ll die,’ the gunman said to the room.”
“He shot one of Khloie’s best friends, Amerie Jo Garza, and the other teacher in the class, Eva Mireles. Then the gunman said ‘Good night,’ Khloie said, and began firing at students across the classroom,” the outlet reported in a chilling recounting of the terror inside the classroom. “Inside, the gunman moved between the two adjoining classrooms. After he left her room, Khloie said, she called out quietly: ‘Is anybody OK? Is anybody hurt?’”
“’Yeah,’ one classmate replied,” according to the Times. “’Just be quiet, so he doesn’t come back in here,’ Khloie remembered responding. Another child asked for help getting Ms. Garcia’s body off her.”
She also spoke with San Antonio CBS affiliate KENS 5 about the terrible day.
(Video: YouTube/KENS 5)
Democrat Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez also addressed the incomprehensible lack of communications at the scene during a Friday appearance on CNN.
Senator makes stunning claim Uvalde commander had no radio, but other first responders could hear 911 calls https://t.co/pND8R66xhk pic.twitter.com/gnAidFa6jg
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) June 4, 2022
“I went to the Commission on State Emergency Communications,” he told host Kate Bolduan. “What I was told specifically is that in this area of Uvalde, those calls are dispatched through Uvalde PD, not the ISD as we were told before. PD dispatchers would then send as many as 17 different, to 17 different first responders, up to and including that school district. They are in the system.”
“That said, I have been told that this person did not have, this person being the incident commander, did not have radio communication,” Gutierrez said. “And I don’t know as to why. And so those are the things that we do know.”
The teachers acted heroically, sacrificing themselves to protect the students, one survivor spoke to a local media outlet about the experience last week.
“They were nice teachers,” the unnamed fourth-grader told KENS 5 last week. “They went in front of my classmates to help. To save them.”
The Justice Department has announced that it will be conducting a Critical Incident Review of the Uvalde PD’s response to the shooting.
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Chris Donaldson is an ordinary American who is concerned about rampant corruption as well as the ongoing attacks on our way of life by those who have contempt for our hard-earned freedoms. A Navy veteran, he has been a frequent contributor to conservative websites and resides in Florida.
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