Fox News host Tucker Carlson responded Thursday evening to reports about police in Uvalde, Texas, hesitating for more than half-an-hour before entering the Robb Elementary School to confront a shooter who was murdering children and teachers.
The gunman reportedly barricaded himself inside the building for 30-60 minutes before law enforcement entered the fourth-grade classroom, the Daily Caller reported, adding: “The Texas Department of Security regional director Victor Escalon said at a Thursday press conference that Ramos fired shots outside the school for 12 minutes before entering the building.”
Carlson said during Thursday’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight” that government officials “ignored the facts” and “lied” to Americans regarding what occurred in the lead-up to and during the shooting. The host went on to raise questions as to why it “took so long” for police to respond to gunfire outside of the school.
“Why did that take so long? That is a fair question, in fact, it’s a critical question. Even at the Parkland school shooting when police staged outside as students were being murdered, police wound up inside the building 11 minutes after the shooter,” Carlson said. “But in this case, it was 16 minutes. Why was that? We have a right to know. But today, police wouldn’t say.”
Carlson played footage of the press conference held by Escalon where he was pressed on why it took several minutes for authorities to enter the building. He said the department did not have all of the background information to answer that question.
Carlson said though it is difficult to account everything that happened in an incident like this, authorities should be able to answer certain questions, including whether there were armed security guards present at the time of the shooting.
“You would know right away if it happened or it didn’t,” he continued. “It didn’t happen, but they said it did happen. That’s a lie. Why did they lie?”
Carlson also played additional footage of Escalon claiming the officers were waiting for backup because they needed crisis “negotiators” and proper equipment to engage the shooter.
“No matter how pro-law enforcement you are, and we are, there’s only so much B.S. you can take in the face of a tragedy like this. We’re waiting for specialized equipment? You have an 18-year-old with a firearm and little kids being killed. What kind of specialty equipment do you need? And negotiators, really? As children are being murdered?” Carlson said.
He then noted that police dodged questions as to how the shooter barricaded himself inside a classroom.
CNN’s Crime and Justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz pressured Escalon on the question at the briefing, where the police official said he would “circle back” to his questions.
“So two days after this massacre, authorities are slowly admitting that everything they told us was in fact, untrue. There was no school resource officer, they’re not even sure how the door was barricaded,” Carlson said.
“It was reported that a school district police officer confronted the suspect that was making entry. Not accurate,” Escalon said. “He walked in unobstructed initially. So from the grandmother’s house to the bar ditch, to the school, into the school, he was not confronted by anybody, to clear the record on that.”
Meanwhile, “police tackled, pepper-sprayed and handcuffed parents attempting to enter the building to rescue their children, including Angeli Rose Gomez, who eventually made her way into the school and retrieved her two kids,” The Daily Caller added.
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Report That Shooter Was Confronted By Police At Uvalde School Is Wrong