Officials have admitted to critical delays in the law enforcement response to the massacre of 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas.
Police are facing growing criticism for their handling of the tragedy at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday, with accusations they did not move in fast enough to tackle lone gunman Salvador Ramos.
Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said officers did not breach a classroom door for more than an hour after initially arriving on Tuesday.
Authorities falsely believed the gunman was “barricaded” and no longer an active shooter threat, despite pleas and phone calls from terrified schoolchildren inside their classrooms.
It comes as hundreds of people gathered in Houston on Friday to protest the National Rifle Association’s annual conference, where Senator Ted Cruz and former president Donald Trump addressed the gun rights lobby group and claimed their political opponents are ‘exploiting’ the tragedy.
Meanwhile the killer’s mother has begged the victims of her son’s killings for forgiveness, but said Ramos ‘had his reasons’ for doing what he did.
