*The mother who was handcuffed by U.S. Marshals during the school shooting in Texas is speaking about how the incompetent police were “more aggressive” with parents than they were in attempting to rescue the children.
Speaking with CBS Mornings, Angeli Gomez made headlines for defying orders from law enforcement when she rushed into Robb Elementary School amid the shooting to rescue her two sons. Gomez said when she initially arrived at the school, she was met by Marshals.
“Right away as I parked, U.S. Marshals started coming toward my car and saying I wasn’t allowed to be parked there,” she said. “And he said, ‘Well, we’re gonna have to arrest you because you’re being very uncooperative.’ I said, ‘Well, you’re gonna have to arrest me because I’m going in there and I’m telling you right now, I don’t see none of y’all in there. Y’all are standing with snipers and y’all are far away. If y’all don’t go in there, I’m going in there.’ He immediately put me in cuffs.”
At that point, Uvalde officers reportedly told Marshals to uncuff Gomez, and that’s when she jumped a fence and ran inside the school. According to Gomez, no officers were inside the building as the gunshots rang out.
Angeli Gomez, the mother of two Robb Elementary School students, was handcuffed by Marshals after urging officers to enter the school during the shooting.
When she was uncuffed, she raced into the school to save her sons — and believes police “could have saved many more lives.” pic.twitter.com/s6AHUY51nw
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) June 2, 2022
“The gunshots were still active,” she said. “They were not in there. There was no one in there, she noted of the police. “If anything, when I pulled up my car was closer to the school than where the snipers and everybody that was laying on the ground were.”
We reported earlier via CNN that while a gunman was inside adjoining classrooms, a group of 19 law enforcement officers stood in a hallway outside and took no action as they waited for room keys and tactical equipment, a state official said.
“The on-scene commander at that time believed that it had transitioned from an active shooter to a barricaded subject,” said Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Col. Steven McCraw.
“From the benefit of hindsight where I’m sitting now, of course it was not the right decision. It was the wrong decision. There’s no excuse for that,” he said.
While officers waited outside, children inside repeatedly called 911 and pleaded for help.
“The belief was there isn’t anybody living anymore and that the subject is now trying to keep law enforcement at bay or entice them to come in” and shoot them, McCraw said.
Texas state Senator Roland Gutierrez said school district police Chief Pete Arredondo, who was the “commander at the scene” at the time of the shooting, was “not informed” about the 911 calls coming from inside the school.
“I want to know specifically who was receiving the 911 calls. There was error at every level, including the legislative level,” Gutierrez said in a press conference on Thursday, describing the event as a “system failure.”
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