The family of one of the victims of Tuesday’s shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, has alleged that they were mistakenly told the child was alive.
Jose Flores, a fourth grader at the school, had received an award for making the honour roll just hours before the shooting.
Jose’s uncle Christopher Salazer said that he and the boy’s father Jose Flores Sr had been searching for the 10-year-old after they heard about the shooting. The boy’s mother, Mr Salazar’s sister, was away on a work trip when the shooting took place.
They went searching for the boy from the school to the local hospital to the civic centre as authorities had initially told the father that the young boy was alive.
“They finally told him [the father]: ‘Look, are you OK to hear what I have to tell you? No, he did not make it’,” Mr Salazar told The Daily Beast.
“They lied to him. They wanted some family members to comfort him while they told him his son was gone already,” Mr Salazar said. “I got into an argument with the cops in there. I said, ‘I don’t care if you lock me up or whatever. You lied to him. Telling him he’s alive, he’s alright.’
“We couldn’t hold him or hug him or nothing,” Mr Salazar added. “They said it was too ugly. His body was supposedly torn to pieces. The only way they identified him was because of his clothes and a scar on his left foot.”
A Texas Ranger had earlier advised Mr Flores against seeing the boy’s body, according to CNN.
The ranger reportedly told him: “As a father, I wouldn’t let you go back there and see him, because he was not recognisable.”
Mr Salazar said Mr Flores did not know that Jose was receiving an honour roll at the school. He only rushed to the school when he heard about the shooting.
“They didn’t let us go in,” Mr Salazar said, referring to the police, adding that there was a “lot of failure” from authorities.
“The police from Uvalde were standing way in the back, instead of standing closer, like the Border Patrol and SWAT team. The cops from here in Uvalde were standing back like they didn’t know what to do,” Mr Salazar said. “Instead of being in front and being for the kids, they weren’t.
“I am kind of angry. If I saw somebody with a gun going into Robb, I would have tried to do something.”
Families of several victims have alleged that the police did not do enough to stop the shooting on Tuesday, with videos showing desperate parents outside the elementary school during the attack, pleading with officers to storm the building.
The father of 10-year-old victim Jacklyn Cazares said he even suggested he could go in himself with other bystanders as he was frustrated police were not doing it themselves.
Details of the timeline remain unclear, including whether officers failed to prevent gunman Salvador Ramos from entering the school, and whether he “barricaded” himself inside a classroom before or after killing the fourth-grade children inside.
