Thank you.
Judy: There were growing
concerns today about how police
responded to the deadly
elementary school massacre in
uvalde, Texas that left 21
people dead, 19 of them
children.
Police indicated the school
doors may have been unlocked
when the gunman entered, and
that he managed to stay inside
for an hour before he was
killed.
Amna nawaz is in uvalde.
And she joins us now.
You have been talking to people
there all day long.
Tell us about the questions now
being raised about the police
response.
Amna: That's right.
Two days after the massacre here
at Robb elementary school the
pain is still very raw and real
for so many here.
Those mourning the loss of those
19 children and two teachers.
But authorities are starting to
fill in some details about
exactly what happened and when,
even as there are a number of
details they still cannot or
will not answer.
A couple of key details they
revealed today for the first
time, the biggest question was
how did the gunman get into the
school in the first place.
Officials say it appears the
door was just unlocked.
They have been sharing details
that they are going through
video and additional interviews.
They say that detail could
change but right now that is
what they believe to be true.
The other thing they mention is
despite earlier reports that the
gunman as he approached the
school building was confronted
by and engaged by a school
resource officer, and armed
police officer, officials today
say that was not true.
There was no engagement, no
confrontation outside the school
between the gunman and anyone
else.
Officials would not even confirm
that there was a school resource
officer on site.
So it appears we now know
between the time the gunman shot
his grandmother, crashed the
vehicle near the school, and
made his way into this
elementary school, he did so
almost completely unobstructed.
Judy: And so after talking to so
many people there, are you
getting a sense of what the main
focus is now in the police
investigation of this?
Amna: The biggest question is
motive.
If the school was targeted, why
it was targeted, why these
children in particular.
But there are big questions
about the timeline that remain,
in particular, an hour-long gap.
They say the gunman entered the
school at 11:40 A.M. And
confirmed it was one hour later
the tactical teams arrived and
were able to enter, engaged him,
and killed him.
Border patrol officials
confirmed to me there was a
group of what they call a
formation of four border patrol
officers who entered the
building, engaging the gunman,
and killing him.
But there are a number of
questions about why more and
other law enforcement officials
say were on site four minutes
after the government entered the
building, why they did not do
more.
I spoke to some residents who
live here around the school, one
man in particular who shot video
from outside the school with
residents yelling at police
officers outside of the
shooting, begging with them and
pleading with them to do more
after hearing the shots fired.
A sense of frustration you hear
in the video.
That man tells me he shot the
video between 12:15 and 12:30,
at least 35 minutes after the
government openly building.
There are a number of questions
about why law enforcement did
not go in sooner, and if they
had, could they have done more
to save the lives of those 19
children and two teachers.
Judy: So disturbing to look at
that video which has been
circulating.
I'm than the vols -- amna nawaz
who is in uvalde.
Now we want to show you the
reporting that she filed just
moments ago.
Amna: In the early morning light
of a new day, two rows of
crosses stood in front of Robb
elementary school.
Amid the mourning, there are new
questions about how police
responded to Tuesday's shooting.
In the chaotic scene that
unfolded, parents and local
residents stood outside,
frustrated, as the minutes
ticked by.
>> You are scared to get shot?
I'll go in without a gun.
>> We got guys going in to get
kids, okay.
Amna: Texas department of public
safety regional director, Victor
Escalon, today said the
18-year-old gunman, Salvador
Ramos, appears to have walked
into the school unobstructed at
11:40 A.M. On Tuesday.
Law enforcement, he says, was on
the scene within four minutes.
But that an hour elapsed before
tactical teams arrived and
killed him.
>> During this time that they're
making those calls to bring in
help to solve this problem and
stop it immediately, they're
also evacuating personnel,
students, teachers.
There's a lot going on.
A lot.
Complex situation.
Amna: Despite multiple questions
from reporters, Escalon would
not confirm any additional
timeline details.
Dr. Roy Guerrero was at the
hospital when many of the
children arrived.
>> There's doctors, nurses,
every kind of health care worker
everywhere, blood on the floor,
kids in the hallway bleeding,
surgeons working on patients in
the rooms.
Amna: Dr. G, as he's known, has
cared for hundreds of uvalde
children since they were babies.
>> The first thing I thought was
like, oh, crap, is this one of
my kids?
And lo and behold, it was.
And not just one, two, or three,
this count so far it's five.
Amna: Five kids.
That you treated.
>> That I've seen since they
were newborns.
Amna: Guerrero described the
scene that confronted medical
staff at the hospital.
>> Probably the most horrible
thing I've ever seen in my life,
basically not recognizable, with
the majority of his facial
features and head missing at
that point.
And then you cover that part
back up.
You can just recognize a little
boy below that, you know, with
a cartoon shirt, cartoon shoes.
And this is a kid that was just
at school doing their normal
daily thing.
So I think that was the hardest
part of my day.
Amna: Among his patients, an
11-year-old girl who survived
the shooting.
>> In a nutshell, this kiddo
just said that, you know, she
was in a room where her teacher
got shot.
She actually explained how her
teacher yelled out, asking for
help and asked her to call 911.
And this kid was smart enough to
cover herself with blood that
she had found on the floor to
act like she was deceased,
basically.
So the shooter would not
identify her and shoot at her.
Amna: This little girl thought
to do that?
>> She did.
She did, you know, 10, 11 years
old and can think like that.
Amna: As the names of the
victims were confirmed, Dr. G
remembered one in particular,
amerie Jo Garza.
>> I have known her since she
was basically a newborn.
This kiddo was yours all this
time you saw them grow up, and
now they're gone.
And we don't understand why.
I think it's the finality of
that, right.
That that you can't change it no
matter what, no matter what you
do.
Amna: For the second straight
day, people in and around uvalde
turned up for one another,
lining up here for a blood
drive.
>> You can't do anything else.
You can't give money to the
families.
Maybe you can't bring food, but
the little thing you can do,
like donate blood, and we do
that.
Amna: Keric hill drove from his
home 65 miles away and took the
day off work in order to donate.
>> Y'all cover all this now.
But in two weeks, a week, the
next event, all the cameras will
be gone and all these families
will still be going through the
same thing.
Everybody will be changed here.
There's no way something like
this can happen in this kind of
area with the way these children
have seen things, the way law
enforcement, everybody had to
clean everything up and it just
-- there's no way this isn't
going to last.
Amna: Texas gubernatorial
candidate Beto O'rourke, who's
long called for gun control
measures, also gave blood, and
spoke to reporters afterwards.
Congressman, these kinds of
attacks still seem to happen.
Is there any sense this time is
somehow different in any way?
That something will change?
>> It is up to us.
It's up to all of us.
These kids, their parents with
whom I've met, didn't choose
this.
We, the people of Texas though,
have a choice.
We all know we can change this.
We all know we have the power to
change this.
We all know it's going to take a
long time.
Amna: With gefri still coursing
through the community, hundreds
streamed into a vigil last
night.
Locals filled the stands to the
rafters, spilling onto the dirt
floor.
A space typically reserved for
rodeos, last night was a house
of healing.
>> I cry a lot.
And I cried a lot today and
yesterday.
I may cry some more here as we
speak.
You may cry.
Because our hearts are broken.
We are devastated.
Amna: The prayers and powerful
messages belie the deep pain
many here are still carrying.
Roy and Dora Sotelo brought
their two daughters to the
vigil.
As the girls' schools went on
lockdown during the shooting,
little sister Leia texted big
sister Chloe.
>> I opened my phone and I went
to Facebook and I saw the police
department posted an active
shooter at school.
The first thing I did was take
some friends and ask if their
siblings are okay.
And then I texted my sister
because she texted me.
She was like, I love you.
If anything, just remember that.
And I texted her like, you're
okay.
Like, you'll be fine.
Amna: You sent her that message?
Why?
>> Because I didn't know what
was going to happen.
I didn't know if it was going to
be my last day or not.
>> I have a lot of friends that
lost their kids, and it's hard,
you know.
You want your kids to bury you.
You don't want to bury them.
So, it's hard.
It's hard.
Amna: Residents here are still
very much in mourning, feeling
that loss and grief.
Even as we stand here today,
community members continue to
show up to bring flowers and
memorials for the 19 children
and two teachers who were
killed.
Funeral preparations are now
underway.
And two funeral homes have
confirmed they are providing to
funerals free of charge.
But there is a growing sense of
outrage over why more was not
done, and could more have been
done by law enforcement
responding to the shooting on
that day to possibly save the
lives of those children and
teachers.
Judy: Oh amna, it's clear that