“An abject failure” — that’s how the head of the Texas state police has described the response of local authorities to last month’s mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, when an 18-year-old gunman shot dead 19 fourth graders and two teachers. Colonel Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, made the comment on Tuesday.

Col. Steven McCraw: “There’s compelling evidence that the law enforcement response to the attack at Robb Elementary was an abject failure and antithetical to everything we’ve learned over the last two decades since the Columbine massacre. Three minutes after the subject entered the west building, there was sufficient number of armed officers wearing body armor to isolate, distract and neutralize the subject. The only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers from entering Room 111 and 112 was the on-scene commander, who decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children.”

Police had said they needed time to get a key to open the classroom’s locked door, but McCraw said the door was not locked and that no officer even checked to see if it was. McCraw also revealed one Uvalde police officer, who was inside the school, was detained while trying to save his wife, Eva Mireles, one of the two teachers shot dead. Ruben Ruiz was detained and had his gun taken away after he moved to approach the classroom where his wife was shot.