Elementary School Shooting: Police's 77-Minute 'Delayed Response'... CCTV Footage Released During the Tragedy

CCTV Footage Released Showing Texas Shooting Incident
Police Loitered in Hallway Without Immediate Response
Biden Urges Strengthened Gun Control Measures

On May 25th (local time), a woman attending a memorial rally for the victims of the elementary school shooting in the small Texas town of Uvalde, USA, is seen shedding tears while holding a photo of her granddaughter close to her chest. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] CCTV footage from inside the school has revealed the police's failure to subdue the shooter and their retreat during the elementary school shooting in Texas, USA.

On the 12th (local time), USA Today obtained and reported a 77-minute-long CCTV video capturing the incident. USA Today reported that even as the gunshots continued after the shooter entered the classroom, the police did not attempt to suppress or restrain the gunman. On May 24, at Rob Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, 21 people in total?including 19 students and 2 teachers?were shot and killed by the shooter, Salvador Ramos (18).

The released footage begins in the parking lot of Rob Elementary School on the day of the incident. At 11:28 a.m., Ramos arrived at the school parking lot driving a pickup truck recklessly and fired three shots at two men approaching the vehicle. After they fled in fear, a teacher called 911 at 11:31 a.m. to report the presence of a shooter.

About two minutes later, at 11:33 a.m., Ramos entered the classroom hallway carrying an AR-15 assault rifle without being stopped by anyone. Screams of children can be heard as Ramos entered the classroom. The shooting continued sporadically for two minutes and thirty seconds in two classrooms. Authorities stated that Ramos fired about 100 rounds during the incident.

On May 24th (local time), heavily armed police are standing on high alert around Rob Elementary School in Uvalde, a small town in Texas, USA, where a random shooting incident occurred.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The police arrived at the scene three minutes after the shooting began, at 11:36 a.m. Officers armed with handguns cautiously moved down the hallway toward the classrooms. When gunfire rang out from the classrooms, they hurriedly retreated.

At around 11:52 a.m., heavily armed police wearing helmets, bulletproof vests, and ballistic shields arrived, but they did not immediately attempt to subdue the shooter and instead lingered in the hallway. Twenty-nine minutes later, four more shots were fired from the classroom, but the police did not move to rescue. They were equipped with tear gas and gas masks at the time.

At 12:50 p.m., the police finally broke down the classroom door and shot Ramos dead. This was 77 minutes after the shooting began.

USA Today described the footage as "a brutal real-time story showing heavily armed police failing to respond immediately to save more children."

Meanwhile, gun violence incidents have been occurring frequently in the United States recently. On May 14, a man opened fire in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 Black people. On July 4, Independence Day, a shooting incident occurred in Highland Park near Chicago, Illinois, resulting in 7 deaths.

In response, U.S. President Joe Biden has called for stronger gun control measures, including banning the sale of assault rifles. At a ceremony commemorating the passage of gun safety legislation held at the White House on the 11th, he emphasized, "The number one cause of death for American children is guns, surpassing traffic accidents and cancer."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.