May 27, 2022
Please send the police now.
Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw describing the 9-1-1 call of a young girl trapped in the classroom during the Uvalde school shooting.
- 911 calls happened throughout the event — more than half a dozen phone calls came from students and teachers inside the classroom where the shooter murdered two teachers and 19 students.
- Why This Matters: The law enforcement officer supervising the scene incorrectly assessed the shooting as a gunman barricaded rather than an active shooter incident — therefore officers did not charge into the classroom, thinking incorrectly that students were not under threat. Instead, the officers waited for resources to try to breach the door.
- We don’t have information as to how many children were injured and could have been saved while officers waited.
- We don’t know if/when the officers became aware of the 911 calls coming from those inside the classroom and how that informed their decisions.
- We know some of the people placing 911 calls survived.
Official: Kids to 911 during siege: ‘Please send the police now’
by Jenna Lee,
