Finger pointed at man who made ‘wrong decision’ as 19 children were murdered

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at a Friday press conference that after following the gunman into the building, officers waited over an hour to breach the classroom

A school building stands behind a tree with an American flag and crime scene tape at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Picture: Jae C. Hong/AP

The blame for an hour’s delay in killing the gunman at a Texas primary school — even as parents outside begged police to rush in and panicked children called 911 from inside — has been put on the school district’s homegrown police chief.

It has left residents in the small city of Uvalde struggling to reconcile what they know of the well-liked local man after the director of state police said the commander at the scene — Pete Arredondo — made the “wrong decision” not to breach a classroom at Robb Elementary School sooner, believing the gunman was barricaded inside and children were not at risk.