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'You set the town on fire': Outrage as Texas public safety chief says cops ‘DIDN'T FAIL’ Uvalde children

Steven McCraw said, 'If DPS as an institution failed the families, failed the school or failed the community of Uvalde, then absolutely, I need to go'

UVALDE, TEXAS: The chief of the Texas Department of Public Safety reportedly stated that the Uvalde community was not failed by his officers during the Robb Elementary School massacre that claimed the lives of 21 people. DPS Director Steven McCraw, who is reportedly receiving constant calls to quit his position over his officers' failure to quickly take down the gunman, Salvador Ramos, at the Uvalde Elementary School, claimed that he would gladly leave if his department was at fault. 

"If DPS as an institution failed the families, failed the school or failed the community of Uvalde, then absolutely, I need to go," McCraw said during Friday's hearing, according to Daily Mail. "But I can tell you this right now, DPS as an institution, ok, right now, did not fail the community, plain and simple." This happened right after Sgt Juan Maldonado, one of McCraw's officers, became the first DPS officer to be fired over the botched school shooting response.  

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Although McCraw admitted that law enforcement made errors as a whole during the shooting, he said the school district's police force who were in charge as police waited an hour before engaging with the gunman, should take the blame. The director was also reportedly called out by the families of the 19 students and two teachers who lost their lives on May 24 for giving out misleading information about a teacher. He reportedly told that the teacher left the door open which allowed Ramos inside the building. The chief reportedly apologized for spreading false information.

The uncle of victim Jackyn Cazares, Jesse Rizo, told McCraw, "You basically lit a match and set the town on fire." The chief was first confronted by Brett Cross, who lost his nephew, Uziyah Garcia, and strongly urged McCraw to step down over the botched response. "We're not waiting any longer. Our families, our community, our state has waited long enough," he said.

Texas Senator Roland Gutierrez also lambasted McCraw for showing his ignorance and avoiding his responsibility by putting the entire blame on the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department. "[DPS] is failing today by continuing to not disclose all of the information that is important to us today, and dribbling out — again, sanctions against low level cops, officers, troopers — when in fact we need to look at the people that were supervising those people and the people that were making decisions," Gutierrez said. "This agency needs to make restitution to these victims and take actions that nothing like this never happens again."

The chief was compelled to apologize for his previously given false statements against Uvalde's teacher, Emilia Marin, who was blamed for leaving the door open that allowed Ramos to enter. "At the time, that's exactly the information that we had, which was wrong, and I take responsibility for it," McCraw said. Marin said she has suffered great "mental trauma" for being wrongfully blamed and it was later revealed that the door's locking mechanism failed to engage. 

McCraw said that a peer review was being conducted against every officer who responded to the shooting and reportedly promised that the ones who are truly responsible for the failed response, will be fired. The DPS chief said so far, one officer under investigation has resigned, while another is "under the termination process right now."

McCraw did not reveal the officers' identity but it was reported by the news outlet that one of the officers from the department, Juan Maldonado, was fired last Friday. The Department did not disclose the exact reason for his firing but Maldonado was one of the seven state officers who were under the scanner. As per the reports of the Texas Tribune, Maldonado, who is also a 23-year veteran of the force, was the highest-ranking state trooper to initially respond to the scene. The officers who attended the scene reportedly waited for 77 minutes before breaching the school premises and Maldonado was one of the first officers to have arrived.

Ramos entered the school at 11.33 am and wasn't shot dead until 12.50 pm. The officers were reportedly stopped by Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Chief, Pete Arredondo. Arredondo claimed the suspect had barricaded himself inside and said he needed a key to get it. Ramos was taken down by the Border Patrol agents. Arredondo said that he thought the shooter was away from the children and wanted more equipment for the police officers before they went in. However, the children were calling 911 for help at that time and the officers outside insisted Arredondo let them go in. He was relieved from his duty in August over the failed response, and in October, the entire school police force was suspended.