Texas DPS Director Steven McCraw testified on Tuesday that the law enforcement response to the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas was an "abject failure."
At a Texas state Senate hearing, McCraw said that officers put their own lives before the lives of children.
"Much has been done but much more needs to be done before this investigation is completed," McCraw told the special committee. "However, we do know this. There's compelling evidence that the law enforcement response to the attack at Robb elementary was an abject failure and antithetical to everything we've learned over the last two decades since the Columbine massacre."
"Three minutes after the subject entered the west building, there were sufficient armed officers wearing body armor to isolate, distract and neutralize the subject," he continued. "The only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers from entering room 111 and 112 was the on-scene commander who decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children."
Photos released this week showed a group of police officers with assault-style rifles waiting in a school hallway instead of confronting the shooter.
Watch the video below from the Texas Senate.
Texas DPS Director Steven McCraw accused law enforcement of an "abject failure" in Uvalde.
— David Edwards (@DavidEdwards) June 21, 2022
"There is compelling evidence the law enforcement response to the attack at Robb elementary was an abject failure and antithetical to everything we’ve learned over the last two decades." pic.twitter.com/GdfajlgLop