City of Uvalde Releases Harrowing 911 Calls, Revealing the Tragic Events and Chaotic Police Response During Robb Elementary School Shooting

After a prolonged legal battle, the city of Uvalde, Texas, has released a series of audio and video recordings connected to the tragic 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. The devastating event claimed the lives of 21 individuals, including 19 students and two adults. These recordings, made public following a lawsuit filed by several news outlets, including the Associated Press, CNN, and the Austin American-Statesman, offer a chilling glimpse into the chaos and fear that unfolded during the horrific event. Among the communications released were 911 calls made during the shooting, capturing the desperate pleas of students and teachers trapped inside the school. One of the most heart-wrenching calls was made by 10-year-old Khloie Torres, who was trapped in a classroom where the gunman, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, had opened fire. "Please, I don’t want to die. My teacher is dead. Oh my God," Khloie told the dispatcher, describing the scene around her with a trembling voice. "A lot of people are gone," she added, referring to the many victims who had already succumbed to the gunman's bullets. The recordings also revealed the chaos and confusion among law enforcement as they attempted to respond to the crisis. The police response included nearly 150 U.S. Border Patrol agents, 91 state police officials, as well as school and city police. Despite the overwhelming presence of law enforcement, the response was slow and disorganized, with dozens of officers standing in the hallway, uncertain of their next move. Meanwhile, terrified students and teachers continued to make desperate 911 calls, begging for help as the gunman continued his deadly rampage. The gunman, Salvador Ramos, entered Robb Elementary School at 11:33 a.m., first firing shots from the hallway before entering two adjoining fourth-grade classrooms. The first officers arrived minutes later, but they retreated after Ramos opened fire on them, leaving the children and teachers inside to fend for themselves. As the minutes ticked by, the Uvalde Police Department’s radio traffic remained focused on setting up a perimeter around the school, controlling traffic, and managing the crowd of desperate parents who had gathered outside, pleading for officers to go in and save their children. At 12:06 p.m., the chaos was still palpable as officers struggled to establish a command post, with one officer lamenting that they lacked the manpower to both manage the perimeter and deal with the situation inside. "They’re trying to push in," one officer said, referring to the frantic parents outside. By 12:16 p.m., a SWAT team from Austin, located 162 miles away, was en route to the scene, but local police still struggled to provide coherent information about the situation inside the school. It wasn’t until 12:50 p.m., nearly 80 minutes after Ramos began his attack, that a tactical team finally entered one of the classrooms and fatally shot him. The delayed response has been heavily criticized in multiple reports, including a U.S. Justice Department review that highlighted the lack of urgency in establishing a command center, which led to confusion among officers about who was in charge. The report, along with other federal and state investigations, pointed to cascading failures in law enforcement training, communication, leadership, and technology. Some reports even questioned whether officers had prioritized their own safety over that of the children and teachers trapped inside. Adding to the tragedy, Ramos had shot and wounded his grandmother before driving to the school, where he carried out his attack. His uncle, Armando Ramos, made several frantic 911 calls, begging to be connected to his nephew in hopes of talking him down. "Everything I tell him, he does listen to me," Armando said, his voice cracking. "Maybe he could stand down or do something to turn himself in." His desperate pleas, however, came too late; by the time he made contact, the shooting had already ended, and Salvador Ramos had been killed by law enforcement. In the aftermath, two officers involved in the response have faced criminal charges. Former Uvalde School Police Chief Pete Arredondo and former school officer Adrian Gonzales have pleaded not guilty to multiple charges of child abandonment and endangerment. Arredondo, in a recent interview with CNN, claimed he has been “scapegoated” for the botched response. The release of these recordings has reignited conversations about accountability and the need for reform in law enforcement responses to critical situations. Families of the victims have called for more officers to be charged and have filed federal and state lawsuits against law enforcement, social media, online gaming companies, and the gun manufacturer that produced the rifle used by the gunman. As the legal battles continue, the community of Uvalde remains haunted by the events of that tragic day, with many still seeking justice for the lives lost. Want to listen to ALL of our podcasts AD-FREE? 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