crimes against humanity. cnn is at the scene of one of his alleged warcrimes. let s go outfront. good evening, i m erica hill in for erin burnett. outfront tonight, it was the wrong decision. that admission from the texas department of public safety who said today, the officers on the scene made major mistakes in their response to the mass shooting at rob elementary school, waiting more than an hour to enter the classroom where 18-year-old gunman was holed up with children and two teachers, some who had already been murdered, others injures, others playing dead. some desperately calling 911 for help. why was this decision made not to go in and rescue these children? again, you know, the on-scene commander considered a barricaded subject and there was time and children at risk. of course it was not the right decision. it was the wrong decision, period. we now know there were 19 officers waiting in the hallway just feet from the classroom. they stood by as these y
said today. the admission of a string of police failures including driving right by the gunman, ever how one girl cowering inside the cool called 911 five times. 20 officers stood in the hallway outside of the classrooms but it wasn t until 12:50 that the classroom was breached using keys from a janitor. mcgraw said the on-seen commander believed that this was a barricaded subject situation and did not think that there were more children at risk. he was then overwhelmed with reporters demanding an explanation into the time delay leading him to make this stunning admission. stand by. hey, stand by. from the benefit of hindsight where i m sitting now of course it was not the right decision. it was the wrong decision period. there s no excuse for that. the press conference also failed to translate questions and answers into spanish despite earlier promises that they would. again, a lot of the folks in this town speak spanish as a primary language. in espanol. no spanis
that said, we still, what we don t have is a full picture of why the response seemed to take so long that a number of anguished parents on the scene were reduced to begging police to take action while others demand they be allowed to go in themselves to rescue their children. earlier today, bodies of all 19 kids released to funeral homes and we learn more of their names so we want to start tonight telling you little bit about them. eliana garcia, known as ellie was about to turn 10, loved basketball and cheer leading, according to grandparents, dreamed of one day becoming a teacher herself. annabelle guadalupe rodriguez on the honor roll, ten years old, in the same classroom as her cousin jacqueline cazares, her father one trying to get into the school. her friend, also saving up for a trip to disney world, her sister said she loved tiktok dances, ariana grande and the houston astros, eliana also ten years old, was to play her last softball game tuesday and waiting to hear if
be an artist. and this was 10-year-old jayce identified this evening. and another 10-year-old, makenna lee elrod. her family confirmed she too died in the attack. for them and for all the victims, we now must ask some very tough questions after what we heard today. i know i m an anchor. but i m also angered in the fact that i m a mother of a second grader, of a third grader, an 8-year-old and a 9-year-old, who sends my children, just like you, to school every single day. and i want to know, did the texas school gunman effectively have total freedom to walk in and start killing those 19 children and two teachers? and despite the massive law enforcement response, when you hear me say words tonight like, or you hear the words said like, police say, over the course of this hour, i want you to keep those words in mind more than you might otherwise. because the official version of what happened is changing. and we re going to now examine all the new questions that are coming in as
teachers were slaughtered. they took no action to get into those classrooms as they waited for more equipment. we pressed for more of an explanation, and the response was devastating. listen. reporter: sir, you have people who are alive, children who are calling 9-1-1 saying please, send the please. they are alive in that classroom. there are lives that are at risk. that s not protocol, is it? we re well aware of that. reporter: right, but why was this decision made not to go in and rescue these children? again, the on scene commander considered a barricaded subject, that there was time and there were no more children at risk. reporter: and what time was that? based upon the information we have, there were children in the classroom that were at risk, and it was, in fact, still an active shooter situation, and not a barricaded subject. reporter: right. sir, if i can follow up. reporter: what can you tell parents who were asking to go in? there was 19. like i