Texas law enforcement official provides detailed timeline of deadly school shooting and police response
A top law enforcement official provided the most detailed description yet Friday of what happened during this week's school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, when a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers. Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw cited video footage and audio evidence to reconstruct the chain of events in 18-year-old Salvador Ramos' attack on Robb Elementary School on Tuesday.
McCraw offered a timeline of what authorities know thus far in their investigation into the rampage. All times listed are in Central Daylight Time:
- 11:27 a.m.: An exterior door to the school is propped open by a teacher.
- 11:28 a.m.: The gunman's truck crashes into a ditch near the school. A teacher runs into a room in the school to retrieve a phone and goes back to the open door. Two males from a nearby funeral home head to the scene of the crash but start running toward the funeral home when they see the gunman with a weapon. The gunman fires at them but doesn't hit them.
- 11:30 a.m.: A person, apparently the teacher, calls 911 to report the crash and the armed gunman.
- 11:31 a.m.: The gunman reaches the last row of vehicles in the school parking lot. The gunman begins shooting at the school. Police vehicles are responding to the funeral home. A school resource officer responds to the school from off campus, driving past the gunman, who is "hunkered down" behind a vehicle. The resource officer speeds toward a teacher behind the school, thinking they were a suspect.
- 11:32 a.m.: Multiple shots are fired at the school.
- 11:33 a.m.: The gunman enters the school. He then begins shooting into room 111 or room 112 in the school, which are connected by a doorway through their shared wall. The gunman fired at least 100 rounds.
- 11:35 a.m.: Three Uvalde police officers enter the school through the same door as the gunman. Two of those officers suffered "grazing wounds" from the gunman, McCraw said. Later, three additional police officers and a sheriff's deputy entered the school.
- 11:37 - 11:44 a.m.: Another 16 rounds are fired.
- 11:51 a.m.: A police sergeant and other law enforcement agents arrive at the school.
- 12:03 p.m.: As many as 19 officers are in the school hallway. A student in room 112, who McCraw didn't identify, calls 911 for a minute and 23 seconds, whispering she was in room 112.
- 12:10 p.m.: The student calls 911 again, saying multiple people were dead.
- 12:13 p.m.: She calls 911 again.
- 12:15 p.m.: Members of a Border Patrol Tactical Unit, or BORTAC, arrive at the school.
- 12:16 p.m.: The student from room 112 calls 911 again, saying 8-9 students were alive.
- 12:19 p.m.: Another female, from room 111, calls 911. The call was disconnected when, McCraw said, "another student told her to hang up."
- 12:21 p.m.: The gunman, believed to be at one of the doors to the pair of classrooms, fires again. The group of law enforcement officers and agents move down the hallway. During a 911 call made at this time, the sound of three shots being fired were heard.
- 12:36 p.m.: The first student to call 911 called again, staying on the line for 21 seconds. "She told 911 that he shot the door," McCraw said.
- Approximately 12:43 and 12:47 p.m.: The student called 911 again, saying, "Please send the police now," McCraw said.
- 12:46 p.m.: The student said she could hear the police next door.
- 12:50 p.m.: The group of officers breach a locked door to the classrooms using keys from a janitor. Shots are heard on a 911 call. The gunman is killed.
- 12:51 p.m.: During a 911 call, it sounds like officers are moving children from the room. The call disconnects when it sounds like the student on the call is outside.
Shortly before Tuesday's shooting, the gunman sent three private Facebook messages that he was going to shoot his grandmother, that he had done so and that he was going to "go shoot up" a school, McCraw said. Governor Greg Abbott had earlier said the messages were posted to the social media platform, but they were not visible to the public.
Investigators found other messages the gunman posted to social media in the weeks and months leading up to the shooting. In September 2021, the gunman asked his sister to help him buy a gun and she refused, McCraw said. On Feb. 28, 2022, in an Instagram group chat, it was discussed that he was "a school shooter," McCraw said.
The gunman later discussed buying a gun in an Instagram group chat with four people, McCraw said. In another four-person chat, the gunman said, "Just bought something rn," McCraw said.
In an Instagram post, the gunman said, "Ten more days," McCraw said. Someone asked, "Are you going to shoot up a school or something?" McCraw said. The gunman replied, "No, and stop asking dumb questions, and you'll see," McCraw said.