Mom of Texas shooting victim who bled out learns daughter would have lived if police acted quicker

A Texas state senator argued ‘many things went wrong’ when local police responded to the elementary school massacre that left 19 children dead, even suggesting that some victims would still be alive if authorities had acted quicker.

Democrat Ronald Gutierrez claims first responders told the mother fourth-grader who bled to death Tuesday during the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde that she would have responded if police had breached the classroom earlier.

‘Her child had been shot by one bullet through the back through the kidney area,’ Gutierrez told CNN on Sunday morning. ‘The first responder that they eventually talked to said that their child likely bled out. In that span of 30 or 40 minutes extra, that little girl might have lived.’

Police admitted Thursday that officers didn’t immediately rush into the school to find gunman Salvador Ramos, 18, during Tuesday’s attack because they feared they might be killed, and even suggested that they deliberately locked Ramos in the classroom where he slaughtered 21 people in order to trap him. 

Ramos, who killed 19 students and two teachers, likely shot the children in the first four minutes of his rampage, around 11.40am, yet none of them were removed from the building until at least 12.50pm, more than an hour later. 

A person can bleed to death in less than five minutes, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, why politicians and doctors alike are criticizing the lack of response from Texas police. 

It remains unclear exactly how many children were in the classroom when the Ramos opened fire, how many were killed immediately and how many were still alive but injured when police assisted. At least two students were taken to a local hospital but had died by the time they arrived.

The U.S. Justice Department announced Sunday it will conduct a Critical Incident Review of the law enforcement response to the school shooting. 

‘Absolutely, these mistakes may have led to the passing away of these children,’ Gutierrez argued Sunday, adding how he had ‘significant concerns’ about ‘operational control’ during law enforcement’s response to the shooting. 

The senator said the state’s active shooter protocols were ‘breached’ and that authorities failed to act appropriately. 

‘The protocols were breached. The active shooter protocols dictate that you go in,’ he said, noting that within minutes of Ramos opening fire, officers were on scene. ‘First there were seven officers, by 12.03pm there were 19 officers. So many things went wrong here.’

In addition to school and local police, scores of Border Patrol agents also rushed to the scene after hearing the incident unfold on scanners. When they arrived, Uvalde police also told them not to go inside, according to a law enforcement official who spoke anonymously to The New York Times. 

Meantime, witnesses, including a little girl who ultimately died, made at least seven calls to 911 asking for help. However, police did not breach the classroom and kill Ramos until 12.50pm.

‘The whole thing is a shame. I am disgusted by all of it,’ Guiterrez said, adding that border patrol agents eventually entered the classroom out of ‘frustration.’ 

The lawmaker said his concerns about the situation extended beyond decisions made by the school district chief, who allegedly was the on-site commander that decided not to breach the classroom. 

He believes that multiple agencies are ultimately responsible for failing the students, parents and entire community.

‘It is not fair to put it on the local ISD cop,’ Gutierrez said. ‘At the end of the day, everybody failed here. We failed these children. We even failed them in the Texas legislature.’  

Surgeons at area hospitals echoed Gutierrez’s concerns, also suggesting that the delay in responding to the shooting may have cost some kids their lives. 

‘You can’t wait until patients go to a trauma center,’ Dr. Ronald Stewart, the senior trauma surgeon at the University Hospital in Antonio, told NBC News Thursday. ‘You have to act quickly.’

He added that uncontrolled bleeding was the top cause of deaths among gun shot wound victims and that it can happen in as little as five minutes. 

Since the Columbine shooting in 1999, officers across the nation have been advised not to wait for backup and to proceed into the school to find the shooter. 

Instructions from the Texas Police Chiefs Association says: ‘The first two to five responding officers should form a single team and enter the structure.’ 

Why that advice was ignored in Uvalde is among the many aspects of the slow response that are now under investigation. 

Another is why police falsely claimed at first that the shooter exchanged gunfire with a school resource officer before he even made it to the classroom. 

The Justice Department has launched a probe into the handling of the shooting. 

‘The goal of the review is to provide an independent account of law enforcement actions and responses that day, and to identify lessons learned and best practices to help first responders prepare for and respond to active shooter events,’ department spokesperson Anthony Coley said.