2 policemen had the opportunity to shoot the gunman from the Uvalde school, says the deputy

UVALDE, Texas – Two Uvalde police officers missed a fleeting opportunity to shoot a gunman outside Robb Elementary School before he killed 21 people inside the school, a senior sheriff’s official told The New York. Times.

That would mean a second missed opportunity for officers to take Salvador Ramos into custody before the May 24 rampage inside the school that killed 19 children and two teachers. Authorities said a school district police officer walked past Ramos without seeing him in the school parking lot.

The unidentified officers, one of whom was armed with an AR-15-style rifle, said they feared hitting children playing in the line of fire outside the school, Deputy Chief Ricardo Rios of nearby Zavalla County told the newspaper. .

Officers’ chance to stop Ramos passed quickly, perhaps in seconds, Rios said.

Messages from The Associated Press to Rios and the Zavala County Sheriff’s Office have not been returned. Zavala County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the shooting in support of Uvalde and Uvalde County deputies.

Rios said he had shared the information with a special Test House committee investigating the school massacre.

SEE: How the police narrative of the mass shooting in Uvalde changed

Uvalde police officers agreed Friday to speak with the investigative committee, according to a Republican lawmaker who is leading the investigation and who began publicly questioning why officers didn’t cooperate sooner.

“It took a little longer than we initially expected,” said state Rep. Dustin Burrows.

On Thursday, Burrows noted his impatience with Uvalde police, tweeting that most people had fully cooperated with his investigation “to help determine the facts” and that he didn’t understand why city police “wouldn’t want the same.” “. He did not say which members of the department will meet with the committee, which will continue to question witnesses in Uvalde on Monday about the attack that killed 19 students and two teachers.

Uvalde police did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Weeks after one of the deadliest school shootings in US history, law enforcement officials stopped providing updates on what they learned about the shooting and the police response. His silence comes after authorities gave contradictory and incorrect accounts in the days after the shooting, sometimes withdrawing statements hours after they were made.

Officials also have not released records sought under public information laws to the media, including The Associated Press, often citing broad exemptions and the ongoing investigation. He has raised concerns about whether such records will be released, including to the families of the victims.

The state House committee has interviewed more than a dozen witnesses behind closed doors so far, including state police, school personnel and school district police. The list of witnesses provided by the committee so far does not include Pete Arrendondo, the Uvalde school district police chief, who has faced criticism for his actions during the attack.

Burrows defended that the committee interviewed witnesses privately and has not disclosed its findings so far, saying its members want an accurate account before issuing a report.

“One person’s truth may be different than another person’s truth,” Burrows said Friday.

Since the shooting, Republican leaders in Texas have called for more funding for mental health, but not new gun restrictions. Authorities say the 18-year-old gunman used an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle. Police did not confront the gunman for more than an hour, even as distraught parents outside the school urged officers to enter.