Parents of Robb Elementary School students in Uvalde, Texas were arrested and at least one was reportedly tased as they tried get to their children during and after Tuesday’s shooting.
Now-deceased 18-year-old Salvador Ramos killed 19 young children and two teachers on Tuesday in the horrific incident at the school.
On Thursday, Texas Department of Public Safety Regional Director Victor Escalon laid out a timeline of events for reporters, explaining that Ramos had first made entry into the school approximately 11:40 a.m. local time.
At 11:44 a.m., local and school police made entered the school, Escalon said, and they took fire from the shooter, who had gone into one of the classrooms.
The officers moved back, took cover and called for backup and additional resources.
Law enforcement began evacuating students and teachers from the building.
Approximately an hour after the shooter entered Robb Elementary, a U.S. Border Patrol tactical team arrived on the scene and forced entry into the classroom where Ramos was holed up and shot and killed him.
Parents began arriving on scene soon after the standoff began and begged police to take out the shooter or allow them to enter the school to get their children.
Angeli Rose Gomez, the mother of a second and third grader at Robb Elementary, told The Wall Street Journal that the police were “just standing outside the fence.”
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“They weren’t going in there or running anywhere,” she added.
Gomez was among the parents urging the police to take action.
“After a few minutes, she said, U.S. Marshals put her in handcuffs, telling her she was being arrested for actively intervening in an active investigation,” the Journal reported.
She told the news outlet she was able to convince Uvalde police officers whom she knew to persuade the marshals to uncuff her and let her go.
Once freed, she distanced herself from the crowd, climbed over the fence surrounding the school, ran into the school and got her two children out.
Gomez told the Journal she saw a father tackled and thrown down to the ground by police, and saw another parent pepper-sprayed.
The video below shows someone on the ground surrounded by police.
WARNING: The following video contains language that some viewers will find offensive.
One HERO MOM Angeli Rose Gomez, jumped the fence AFTER the cops took her handcuffs off! Ran in and got her 2 kids to safety. As the cops waited OUTSIDE.
#heromom #angelirosegomez https://t.co/VYQyTVNIgb— Judi Jordan (@JudiJor58794250) May 26, 2022
Javier Cazares, whose fourth grade daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, was killed in the attack, told Fox News he became frustrated with the police’s apparent unwillingness to act.
“Upset that police were not moving in, he raised the idea of charging into the school with several other bystanders,” Fox News reported.
Gomez said she also saw police use a stun gun on a father who had approached a bus collect his child.
“They didn’t do that to the shooter, but they did that to us. That’s how it felt,” she said.
