Texas senator: School police chief didn’t know of 911 calls

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — The commander at the scene of a school shooting in Texas was not informed of panicked 911 calls coming from inside the school building, a Texas state senator said Thursday.

Sen. Roland Gutierrez said the pleas for help from people inside Robb Elementary as the shooting was taking place May 24 did not make their way to school district police Chief Pete Arredondo. The Democratic senator called it a “system failure” that calls were going to the city police but were not communicated to Arredondo.

“I want to know specifically who was receiving the 911 calls,” Gutierrez said during a news conference, adding that no single person or entity was fully to blame for the massacre.

“There was error at every level, including the legislative level,” Gutierrez said.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said last week that police didn’t breach the classroom where the gunman was holed up faster because Arredondo believed the situation had morphed from an active shooting to a hostage situation.

Nineteen children and two teachers died in the attack at Robb Elementary School, the deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade.

Funerals for those slain began this week.