(ThePatriotWire)- This week, the Texas Tribune published photos from surveillance cameras inside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde that showed police waiting in the hall while the gunman massacred children.
In one photo from 12:04 pm, police are seen huddling behind ballistic shields only feet away from the classroom where 19 children and two teachers were murdered. It wasn’t until 46 minutes after that image that heavily-armed police entered the classroom.
In total, 77 minutes elapsed between the time police arrived at the school and when they confronted the gunman.
According to the Texas Tribune, the surveillance video contradicts the prior claims from Uvalde School Police Chief Pete Arredondo. The video shows that the police didn’t try to open the doors to the classrooms where the shooter was located, nor could they have known whether the doors were locked or unlocked.
Arrendondo claimed that he spent an hour trying to find a master key to unlock the classroom doors. However, some officials believe the doors weren’t even locked since the shooter was able to enter the room without a key and could not have locked the doors once he was inside.
Speaking to Uvalde residents Tuesday evening, Mayor Don McLaughlin accused Steve McGraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, of trying to protect his state troopers by continuing to “lie, leak, mislead, or misstate information” about the local police.
Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez filed a lawsuit against the Texas Department of Public Safety on Wednesday, accusing state troopers of withholding information from the public while pointing fingers at the Uvalde School Police.
Also on Wednesday, the superintendent of the Uvalde School District placed Chief Pete Arredondo on administrative leave effective immediately.
Uvalde Superintendent Dr. Hal Harrell said in a statement on Wednesday that while the district wanted to wait for the investigation into law enforcement’s response to conclude, he decided to place Arredondo on leave “because of the lack of clarity that remains” and because it is not clear how long the official investigation will take.
Lieutenant Mike Hernandez will serve as interim chief while Arredondo is on leave.
