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Coverage Continues of Uvalde Elementary School Shooting; Officials Give Update on Texas Elementary School Massacre. Aired 2- 2:30p ET

Aired May 26, 2022 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:00:00]

VICTOR BLACKWELL: Hello, I'm Victor Blackwell. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM.

ALISYN CAMEROTA: And I'm Alisyn Camerota in Uvalde, Texas. It's been 48 hours since the horrible school shooting here at Robb Elementary, that you can see behind me. And there are still serious questions about the police response. So any moment, officials are going to give us an update right here just a few feet away from me, and we will bring you that when we get it.

We also have new and extremely emotional video of the parents who gathered outside of Robb Elementary School on Tuesday while this shooting was underway.

(CROWD SCREAMING)

UNKNOWN MALE: Back - get back.

(CROWD SCREAMING)

CAMEROTA: Can you imagine being those parents and hearing gunshots, and begging - begging the police to make it inside into that elementary school, and you pushing them back? That's the case that was happening here outside of Robb Elementary.

I'm here, Victor, with Jason Carroll and Shimon Prokupecz right now. Let me bring them in.

Jason, I know you talked to some of those parents who were there.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, when you see that video, and you see so much of that frustration and anger on the part of the parents. I spoke to one man, Victor Luna (ph). His son is in the fourth grade. He was one of those people, the minute he heard about the shooting, like so many other people in this area - rushed right here to the scene.

He says he was standing there for minute upon minute after minute and was just frustrated with what he called the inaction of some of those officers who were out there. He said that what he wanted to do was take matters into his own hands. I want you to listen to what he told us about what he told an officer as he was waiting there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Do you remember what you were saying to the officers, what others were saying to the officers?

VICTOR LUNA, FATHER OF TEXAS SCHOOL SHOOTING SURVIVOR: I told one of the officers myself I they didn't want to go in there let me borrow a gun and a vest and I'll go in there myself to handle it. And they told me no.

CARROLL: How does that leave you? Is it a feeling of anger, frustration?

LUNA: Anger and frustration, especially for the other people that lost their children in there. They didn't deserve this.

CARROLL: Do you think some of this could have been prevented, or -

LUNA: Like I said, I think it could have been prevented if they wouldn't have let him go inside that campus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: So as you could hear there Alisyn, he was saying give me a gun, give me a vest and go in there and do it myself. That was the feeling of so many of the parents and relatives who were out here.

His son Jayden (ph) is in the fourth grade, thankfully his son Jayden (ph) survived, but he said - look, he said he just felt as though they took too long between the time that the shooter get into the school. And between that time and the time that they actually went in and took him down.

Again, I asked him what time you got there, he said he arrived at about 11:40 am. He said he was standing out there, fighting, arguing with these officers for some 30 or 40 minutes. Again, his son Jayden (ph) survived, but as we know so many others did not.

CAMEROTA: Shimon, have the police given any explanation for why it took so long to get in and kill that shooter?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: No, I mean the basic explanation has been that they were facing some gunfire from the subject. Early on that was the information and sort of some of the reason for why they were delayed, that they were taking on gunfire. When you think about what Jason just said, this father 11:40 he's on scene, that's minutes -

CARROLL: Yes.

PROKUPECZ: - that's how quickly word was spreading through this community. So that tells you that the additional officers, the additional resources were nowhere near here yet. They were on their way by then, but they weren't here. So many of the parents who were gathering here, it's early on, they could still hear the gunfire - CARROLL: Yes.

PROKUPECZ: - they could still hear the gunfire coming from inside that school as their kids - their children are inside. So this is the thing that everyone now is asking, like, why? Why did it take so long for he reinforcement to come? Because think about it, we learned yesterday that the gunman was in that classroom for probably an hour, if not more.

[14:05:00]

CAMEROTA: Hopefully we're about to get some answers. So this press conference is starting with the local law enforcement and hopefully we're going to get some answers.

Jason, Shimon, thank you both very much.

Victor, let me show you and the viewers the newspaper from today. This is the "Uvalde Leader News." It's all black, just full page of black with the date May 24, 2022. It's obviously a really affecting visual there.

And right behind me, Victor, I should also just point out one more thing. This is the school, OK, this is Robb Elementary School behind me, and you can see the memorials that have cropped up and 21 white crosses.

Right across from the school is the Hillcrest Funeral Home, just ironically. And so streets and streets have been blocked off because so many families are showing up here to either pay respect to this memorial, bring flowers - we've been watching that, or go to the funeral home and make arrangements.

Also teachers have been showing up to get their cars because they had to evacuate so quickly and haven't had their cars since then. So it's a very, very active scene. It's a very grief-stricken scene, and hopefully we'll get some answers momentarily.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And obviously in such a tight knit community it has overtaken the town of Uvalde as they're coming in to that community.

Alisyn, we'll toss it back to you in a moment. But the bodies of those 19 victims - the children, they've now been released from officials to those funeral homes. The two additional victims are expected to be released later this afternoon.

And now the small community has to plan those 21 funerals. Family members are sharing more photos and more families (inaudible). Here's one, this is Jacqueline (ph) Cazares on her first communion. This was just a few months ago. Her father said she was a firecracker who would do anything for anybody. Her cousin, who was just in the third grade Annabelle Guadalupe Rodriguez was also killed in the shooting.

Jose Flores, Jr, he wanted to be a police officer when he grew up. The eldest of four children, his parents said he loved to care for others.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CYNTHIA FLORES, MOTHER OF JOSE FLORES JR.: When it was just me and him I always told him he's so good, he's helpful helping here around the house. He would just be like my little shadow, like he would just be helping me and stuff.

UNKNOWN MALE: He really loved his little brother (ph) - he loved him. He was a little helper.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Lexi Rubio, she loved sports - especially softball and basketball. Her parents said (inaudible) about travelling the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN MALE: Read her journal here (inaudible) wanted to go to Australia.

UNKNOWN FEMALE: She wanted to go to Australia.

UNKNOWN FEMALE: She wanted to go to law school.

UNKNOWN FEMALE: Law school.

UNKNOWN FEMALE: Yes, St. Mary's because that's where I go (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And this is Amerie Jo Garza, her father Angel is a med aid who jumped in to provide some assistance to EMS workers while he awaited word about his daughter. And he said that he was trying to help a little girl who was covered in blood, and then this happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGEL GARZA, DAUGHTER AMERIE KILLED IN SHOOTING: She was hysterical saying that they shot her best friend, that they killed her best friend and she's not breathing and that she was trying to call the cops.

And I asked the little girl the name, and she - and she told me - she said Amerie. She was the sweetest little girl that did nothing wrong. She listened to her mom and dad, she always brushed her teeth. She was creative, she made things for us. She never got in trouble in school. Like, I just want to know what she did to be a victim.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: I mean, it really is just unimaginable to think that that is how he found out that his little girl was gone.

Alisyn, I'm going to send it back to you.

CAMEROTA: Victor, the strength and grace of these parents who are trying to fight through this grief right now is stunning. With us now is the Uvalde County Commissioner Ronald Garza. Mr.

Commissioner, thanks so much for being here, I know this is a really, really tough time.

RONALD GARZA, UVALDE COUNTY COMMISSIONER: Thank you for having me.

CAMEROTA: Have you seen that video yet of the parents beseeching law enforcement in that hour after the shooting started to go in and do something?

R. GARZA: Yes, I have seen it.

CAMEROTA: Do you have any sense of why there was that hour lapse?

R. GARZA: You know, there's so much information out there. I'm like a lot of people, you know, I'm still in the dark, there's still all the details of what took place.

CAMEROTA: Were those parents right to be begging law enforcement to go in during that time?

R. GARZA: I think so, as parents. I think they had the right to defend their children.

CAMEROTA: Do you have any idea if there have been active shooter drills here in Uvalde? Obviously this is such a hideous reality across the country that so many local police forces have had to do that. Do you know if they've done that here recently?

[14:10:00]

R. GARZA: Not to my knowledge. No, I have no knowledge of that. Yeah, I couldn't answer that question accurately.

CAMEROTA: Because the general thinking, after so many of these, is that you have to get in fast, as fast as possible, even if you're taking incoming fire, and I know that's really easy to say from where I stand and hard to say for law enforcement. But you have to get in there, and you can't wait an hour, and so there's just questions of, were they not trained on how to do that?

GARZA: Yeah. You know, there's a lot of questions, but the parents deserve an answer. The parents of these young children, innocent children, deserve an answer, and I hope they get answers.

CAMEROTA: Do you have any idea about the school set-up? Were doors locked or not locked?

GARZA: I heard that back door was unlocked.

CAMEROTA: And would that have broken protocol or were doors not locked?

GARZA: Yeah, I think it would have broken protocol, but being the last four days of school, you know, I mean, there was -- it could have been just mistakenly unlocked and opened. It's a tragedy that -- but hopefully we'll get some answers.

CAMEROTA: I mean, I just can't -- what I have learned in my short time here, it's a very tight-knit community. Everybody knows everybody here and so it's hard to know if -- not all schools have locked doors and some, you need a key to be able to get into, but you're saying that's one of the unanswered questions.

GARZA: Unanswered questions. And you mentioned tight-knit community. Two of those victims are -- two of those children are tenants of ours. Their parents have rented.

Jailah Silguero's parents have rented from us for about six, seven years. Very good parents. It's just sad. It almost hits home, you know, when -- I remember the young little girl, Jailah.

CAMEROTA: What was she like?

GARZA: She would ride her bike there at the apartment complex, light- complected, wore this round rimmed glasses, riding her bike. Every time she'd see me, she'd go, hi, Ronnie. Such a beautiful --

CAMEROTA: Was she 10?

GARZA: Yeah, about 10 years old, yeah. She was the baby of that family.

CAMEROTA: She was the baby of the family. Have you seen them?

GARZA: I've talked to -- I saw them the night of the incident at the valley civic center when they were awaiting news. I texted the mother about an hour ago, if there's anything she needed. Unfortunately, she was at the funeral home making arrangements.

CAMEROTA: So many are. So many are. As I was just saying on the air, all of these streets are blocked off for blocks and blocks because so many families are either showing up here at the school to build this memorial, or teachers to pick up their cars, or going to arrange for the funerals.

GARZA: So sad.

CAMEROTA: And what does this mean for this community?

GARZA: Well, we're in mourning. We're grieving. Lot of unanswered questions. But our community, we may have our, oh, how can I say, our -- I'm looking for a word here.

We might not be all on the same page, but we unite when there's a need, when there's a crisis like this. We come together.

CAMEROTA: What do you want to hear from police in a few minutes?

GARZA: I think we want all the answers. We want answers. And then better enforcement of security measures.

CAMEROTA: Is that what the answer is? GARZA: I don't know. That's a start, though. But the status quo is

not working. And we obviously have to do something.

But I would like to say something else, and the shooter's family, this is not a reflection on that family. That family is -- values church. They're a family of faith.

CAMEROTA: You know them?

GARZA: I know them. Hardworking.

CAMEROTA: So what went wrong?

GARZA: I don't know. I don't know what went wrong, but this is not -- should not be a reflection on the family.

CAMEROTA: Do you know the gunman?

GARZA: I knew of him.

CAMEROTA: Was he troubled?

GARZA: Not to my knowledge. But the family's a great family, and I knew his great-grandmother. I knew the grandmother and the mother, the grandfather, and it shouldn't be a reflection on them or our community.

CAMEROTA: Yes, we talked to the archbishop yesterday who said the same thing and that we need to keep them in our prayers as well.

GARZA: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Ronnie Garza, thank you very much.

GARZA: Thank you, Alisyn. Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Victor, back to you.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: All right, Alisyn. We've got an update. That briefing that's going to start just a few feet from you, that's been pushed for 15 minutes from now to 2:30 eastern. Of course, when that happens, we'll bring it to everyone live.

Until then, let's bring in Juliette Kayyem, CNN national security analyst and former assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, and, Ed Davis, former Boston police commissioner.

[14:15:04]

Welcome to you both.

So, we're waiting for details, Commissioner. I want to start with you and that engagement, as it's described, between that school resource officer, the first law enforcement member to encounter this shooter, before he went into the building.

Here's what we know from the director of the Department of Public Services on describing that. Let's play it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, how did, ultimately, law enforcement get inside that classroom?

LT. CHRIS OLIVAREZ, SPOKESMAN, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: So there's a doorway that leads to a main hallway, which leads to other classrooms. At that point, those initial officers were unable to make entry so they went around the school, breaking windows, rescuing children and teachers from those windows, bringing them out through those windows. They were able to set a perimeter until that tactical team arrived and they were able to make entry into that classroom.

BERMAN: Through the door or through the windows?

OLIVAREZ: They went the same the shooter was able to make entry but they were able to make forcible entry. They had sufficient manpower to make sufficient entry into that classroom.

STEVEN MCGRAW, DIRECTOR, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: As Governor mentioned earlier, there was a brave independent school district resource officer that approached him, engaged him, and at that time, there was not -- gunfire was not exchanged, but the subject was able to make it into the school as the governor reported. He went down a hallway, turned right, then turned left, and there was two classrooms that were adjoining and that's where the carnage began.

As he was shooting, when the shooting began, we had Uvalde police officers arrive on scene along with the Consolidated Independent School District officers, immediately breach, because we as officers know every second is a life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And, Commissioner, I know these are the questions parents have. How is it that the school resource officer sees this man and, again, he's got a rifle with him, go into the building and that school resource officer is not the first law enforcement member right in the building after him?

ED DAVIS, FORMER BOSTON POLICE COMISSIONER: I do not understand. I do not like to second guess people. I do not like to make judgments before all the facts are on the table, and I'm very anxious to hear what they have to say in this briefing, but I do not understand what's come out so far.

The officer who first encountered someone like that would be totally within his rights and policy to use deadly force against a suspect like that. And I'm watching these photographs of officers with rifles standing around. If, in fact, there was gunfire being heard inside, when that was happening, that is not consistent with what our training is.

After Columbine, we have -- and I have trained -- I have personally trained hundreds of officers on this. After Columbine, we shifted our tactics to small unit tactics. As soon as you are able to pull together a group of four officers or three officers, you form a diamond-shaped pattern, you make entry into the school, or to the building where the active shooter is, and you go to the sound of gunfire.

There's no talk about rescue. You do not perform first aid. You do not go around and try to secure the area. Your job is to move in, tactically, and remove the threat.

And listen, I wouldn't criticize a police officer under fire. I've been in those situations myself. These are combat situations, and people act differently in combat situations. But what I'm seeing right now is just totally inconsistent with what I know to be the proper procedure.

CAMEROTA: Commissioner, I'm so glad you said that, because that has been my impression also. I thought it was after Sandy Hook but you're saying it was after Columbine, there was new training for police because this has become, tragically, so ubiquitous.

And, Juliette, that they have to get in. They have to get into the school. And I am with the commissioner and everyone watching who, of course, we don't want to lay blame already at the feet of the police. Who knows if that would have changed anything? It's just that when you see how frustrated the parents were, and beseeching them, please get in there, please do something, that makes perfect sense.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Right. That's right. And it hasn't -- I mean, it's so formalized in law enforcement and public safety, it has a name. It's called immediate action rapid deployment. I wrote about it earlier today.

There's no negotiation. We now know this about active shooters and mass killers. So, your immediate is taken literally, which is as the commissioner was saying, your -- you pass by injured bodies. People may be -- may need your help. You actually don't care. Your one job is to essentially kill or isolate the shooter and the gunman.

[14:20:03]

And this has been drilled into all of us in homeland security, in public safety, in law enforcement for 20 years. Like, you don't even think about it. You know what you're supposed to do in an active shooter case, let alone one involving schools. So, I have a big question there, which is this time frame. Where is the gunman isolated, and at what stage do the killings take place?

The second is just communication, and I want to make it clear, because I know, Alisyn, like you, that video of the parents, you're like, that's me. That's me running in. So, part of the training is also, you have to secure the site.

And so, one potential explanation, and this is what I want to hear, I'm not defending them, I'm just saying, it wasn't that they worried that lots of parents would come in and you have a shooter and you're just going to have a worse situation. So, part of the training is securing the site.

It looks horrible. It does not look good for the law enforcement agents there right now. They need to explain the timeline and the training and the tactics, but those are some of the things coming out of the images and narrative that we're seeing right now.

This should not -- I mean, immediate means immediate. You don't care about victims. You don't even think about the families. You don't think about the children, even. You are just in there to essentially kill the gunman and then you've at least stabilized the situation.

CAMEROTA: Juliette Kayyem, Ed Davis, such good context. Thank you very much for your expertise and explaining all of that.

And we will ask those questions as soon as this press conference starts -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. You know, every time one of these massacres happens, there's this renewed push for gun reform. And then nothing happens. But there may be a shred of hope on Capitol Hill. We'll get into that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:26:12]

CAMEROTA: I'm Alisyn Camerota here in Uvalde, Texas, and we're waiting for police and other law enforcement to give us an update on the investigation. Meanwhile, they have put out a little bit of new information. They just released a statement, and Shimon Prokupecz has been following all this. He is back with us.

What does it say, Shimon?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, just to point out this is from the Uvalde police department. This is the local police department that we really have not heard from. Mostly, we have been hearing from the DPS, that's the state --

CAMEROTA: Department of public safety?

PROKUPECZ: Right. They are part of the team that's running this investigation along with the Texas Rangers -- sorry. We're waiting for the press conference here to start.

So, there's really not a whole lot of new information here, but they are cognizant, they are aware that there are questions surrounding the response, the police response, and they acknowledge that, and they say that there are officers who did respond within minutes alongside the school police officers and that those officers sustained gunshot wounds from the suspect and then they say that our entire department --

CAMEROTA: It looks like -- keep going. I'll tell you when it's starting. Momentarily. PROKUPECZ: -- is thankful the law officers did not sustain any life-

threatening injuries and they say this is an ongoing investigation that is being led by the Texas Rangers. One of those rangers is standing here behind me with the white shirt. And that as soon as this investigation is complete, that they will be able to answer all the questions that they can.

So, they say that they know that we have a lot of questions, but until this investigation is complete, they will not answer any questions.

CAMEROTA: Looks like they're still getting their ducks in a row, kind of huddling right now behind us before they take to the microphone, because they know -- I mean, I can -- there's just a huge scrum here, Victor, reporters from every network.

Did you have something, Shimon?

PROKUPECZ: No, I'm just -- so it looks like there are different law enforcement officials here. You see the Texas Rangers, the local police here, and that's DPS here about to come to the microphone.

CAMEROTA: Right. So, optically, you see this show of solidarity between all the different agencies and different law enforcement before they answer our questions because they know, as I've said, they're coming out to face -- there are networks. There are international networks here. There are local affiliates.

There are so many questions, obviously, and there are parents standing around, and obviously, neighbors who have questions as well. So, Victor, we're just waiting. It looks like they're going to come out momentarily.

BLACKWELL: Yeah, and --

CAMEROTA: And try to answer some of these questions.

BLACKWELL: Certainly after we saw that video at the top of the show here with parents being held back who wanted to rush into the school, and as you've said in our law enforcement analysts have said, you don't want parents who are unarmed, unprotected, rushing in get their children. You can understand why, when they see law enforcement holding them back and not going in the other direction, there are certainly questions and hopefully we'll get answers to those.

But we see, as Shimon has classified it or characterized it, the alphabet soup of law enforcement there in Uvalde.

CAMEROTA: It's just starting now, Victor. Sorry to interrupt you. We're just -- they're just starting now.

VICTOR ESCALON, SOUTH TEXAS REGIONAL DIRECTOR, DEPT. OF PUBLIC SAFETY: Good afternoon. I'm Victor Escalon, regional director for DPS South Texas. Thank you so much for being here today.

My goal today on this conference, this press conference, is to give you a snapshot, where we're at today. This incident happened on Tuesday, May 24th, so there's a lot of information, a lot of moving parts. We have a lot of people involved in this investigation. I'm going to give you a summary of what happened.

But before I do that, I was able to make it here during the event on May 24th, same with a lot of other law enforcement officers that came to this event, this critical incident. I got to see the victims.