Brennan asked him why the school district police 'commander' wasn't on site when the shooting began; later, she clarified and said the 'officer' wasn't on site. Either way, Garza didn't have the answer, although he said it's possible he could have been at another campus at the time. She also asked if it was true "the chief of police for the school district is now under police protection himself" and if that was "reflective of the feeling in the community..."
Well, you know, rightly so. You know, people are - are asking questions. Parents lost children. They're devastated. And it's - it's - it's just a sad situation. And I think the community deserves answers.
She also noted there's talk in "communities around the country" about whether more school security is needed, and legislators are talking about getting funding for that. Given Uvalde has a separate police force solely for the school district, she asked Garza if a lack of security was the problem there.
...Perhaps it was a lack of security, training. You know, I think there's multiple factors that might be involved here. But you know, right now, it's easy- It's easy to point fingers right now. It's easy to play the blame game. But, you know, our community I think needs to focus on- on the- on the- on healing right now...
He said he welcomes the FBI investigation, which he said Rep. Joaquin Castro asked for; according to reports, the mayor of Uvalde also made the same request.
I think we need to learn more. As tragic as this may seem, we need to learn from this, you know, and parents deserve answers.
Garza knows the family of the shooter, and said he has "no indication" as to any motive. He described the family as one that "value(s) church, they value hard work, known them for many years- great grandparents, grandparents, uncles, aunts: He also said what happened shouldn't be a reflection on the family.
You know, we raise our children, and we try to raise them in the right way. But- but sometimes our children have different thoughts, have different attitudes, personalities, but we do the best we can.
Finally, on whether the school will be destroyed, Garza was not sure, and admitted to having "mixed emotions" on that. He went there, and his father taught there, "his second teaching assignment."
My grandkids went through there and my kids went through there- those pecan trees that are out there at Robb school, my dad planted them in 1965. Every day after school, he and a few students would water those pecan trees so we- we- we have very strong ties to the school and you know, my hope is - I hope it's not- the school is not razed. Yes, do we need a memorial out there maybe? Do we need to section off the area where the shooting took place? Perhaps. But you know that- and again, that's just my opinion.
The decision on what to do with, or at, the school, will be an agonizing one, I suspect.
Down the hall, Dana Bash was in the host's chair in the State of the Union classroom; one of her guests was State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat, who represents Uvalde.
Her first question? "...how is it that 9- and 10-year-olds had the presence of mind in that kind of terrifying situation to dial 9/11 multiple times, pleading for help, asking for police to come, and the grownups in the hallway didn't come in?" And Gutierrez didn't pull any punches, saying "the whole thing is a shame. I'm disgusted by all of it."
I understand the human condition, the notion that this other guy might have superior firepower. But, at the end of the day, the protocols were breached. The active shooter protocols dictate that you go in. First, there were seven officers. By 12:03, there was 19 officers. So many things went wrong here. I'm asking a lot of questions. I am told that I'm going to be getting a ballistics report next week, along with many other issues that need to be addressed.
And, to Bash's question on whether the delay saved lived, he gave an example of a child who had been shot in the back, and died. She's one of the ones who might have been saved, had first responders gone in, so "absolutely, these mistakes may have led to the passing away of these children as well."
He also has lots of questions - significant concerns, he said - on the operational aspect of things. As Bash noted, there were local, state, and federal law enforcement personnel on site.
I have asked DPS at what point each one of their officers arrived. At what point does the local police take operational control, or should they? At what point does the next superior power, DPS, take operational control, or should they? And, lastly, the federal government, they waited some as well. At what point should they not have taken operational control?
He said that no one has told him they expressed frustration or 'challenged' the school district police commander about his decisions, but that it was the Border Patrol team that, out of frustration, decided to go in. And, he said,
I had a long talk with Colonel McCraw yesterday. He was devastated. As you have seen on television, he's acknowledged that there were errors here. What I have suggested to him is that it's not fair to put it on the local ISD cop. At the end of the day, everybody failed here. We failed these children. We even failed them in the Texas legislature.
On that last point, Bash wondered if "there are enough Republicans to pass" legislation, such as chancing the age to purchase this type of weapon from 18 to 21, or even on having a special session, something Gutierrez "confronted" Gov. Greg Abbott about, Bash noted.
He said it's the "first time ever" he's seen Rs calling for a special session, and he said some of his GOP colleagues "who at this point don't want to be identified," have said the age needs to be raised.
Those are the kind of things that make sense, red flag laws, waiting periods, making sure that we have a more significant, robust background check.
Bash mentioned he sounded 'hopeful' and he said that's he does what he does.
I ran for office because I am hopeful. I am -- I have in my life created change at different levels of government. If I do nothing for the rest of my career but yell at Greg Abbott and others that are not willing to listen, then that's what I'm going to do.
We must have change. I have spent time with many of these families. And this is just heartbreaking. I just cannot do this anymore. It is heartbreaking. No family should go through what these people are going through.
We need so many more legislators, from both sides of the aisle, who are willing to yell at their 'do-nothing' counterparts on things like this.
Later today, I'll post another set of recommendations on what we can do, if only people would listen. You can read the first chunk of them here.
See you around campus.
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