Had? translator: to get closer to those children instead of paying attention to the other bad things. i have no words. i don t know. cnn s jason carroll has more now on the investigation, the time line of tuesday s massacre. reporter: 11:21 a.m. tuesday, i just shot my grandma in her head the gunman wrote to a girl he met online, the start of a shooting spree that would leave 19 students and two teachers dead. seconds later he wrote i m going to shoot up an elementary school right now. the gunman took off in his grandmother s truck leaving her fighting for her life. she was able to run to a neighbor and get help. reporter: the shooter drove less than a mile crashing into a ditch. two minutes later, investigators say a 911 call reported the wreck and the gunman walking
Walked in an unlocked door, firing. he walks an approximate 20 feet, 30 feet, he walks into the hallway, walks another 20 feet. turns left and into a school room. into a classroom that has doors open in the middle. reporter: there in those connected classrooms authorities say the gun man barricaded pos himself and killed the students and the teachers and wounded 17 people, one of the victims 10-year-old amerie jo garza tried to call police on her cellphone. a birthday present two weeks ago. they got confirmation from two of the students in her classroom that she was just trying to call authorities. and i guess he just shot her. reporter: as the gunman sporadically shot through the wall, police wait for reinforcements and evacuate other students. officers were there, initial
More than an hour for officers to take down the 18-year-old gunman. the lengthy response time and lack of communication to the public caused chaos you can see there outside the school. frantic parents started arriving desperate to know if their kids were still alive and begging officers to get inside the school and stop the shooter or let the parents go in themselves. meanwhile on the other side of the country, support from the community that knows the particularly pain felt in uvalde. this service held in newtown, donald trump where a hauntingly similar massacre held at sandy hook almost a decade ago. meanwhile the u.s. president is getting ready to meet with victims families, he is heading to uvalde on sunday. phil mattingly has the story for you. reporter: as the country
Toward robb elementary school with a long rifle. his weapons legally purchased just days before, may 17th, he bought a rifle at a sporting goods store. the next day, 375 rounds of ammunition and on may 20th, another rifle from the same store. it was those guns he had with him on tuesday. he jumps out the passenger side of the truck, faces two witnesses at the funeral home across the street from where he wrecked. he engages and fires towards them. it was like hitting the dirt on the floor. bullets, close bullets from where? i guess he was coming from the school this way. reporter: the gunman climbed a fence at the school and started shooting at the building according to texas investigators. they now say earlier information a school resource officer engaged the shooter outside is wrong. at 11:40 a.m., the gun man
People outside 12 minutes before he went inside. we also have extremely emotional video of parents gathered outside robb elementary while the shooting was happening. some were screaming as you can hear at police to storm the building and save their children. vigils and memorials are giving families and the community a chance to grieve, but nothing will bring back the 21 people that they have lost. and we re hearing now fror the first time from the mother of the gun man. translator: i have no words. i have no words to say. i don t know what he was thinking. he had his reasons for doing what he did, and please don t judge him. i only want the innocent children who died to forgive me. what do you tell their families? translator: forgive me. forgive my son. i know he had his reasons. what reasons could he have