The father of a child shot dead at a Texas elementary school on Tuesday said police "let our babies get slaughtered."
The alleged 18-year-old shooter, Salvador Ramos, opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on Tuesday morning, killing 19 students and two teachers in one of the deadliest school shootings to ever occur in the United States, authorities said.
In the aftermath, attention has turned to local law enforcement's delayed response to the shooting, which has faced widespread criticism from people across the world, including some of the victims' family members.
Jesse Rodriguez, who lost his 10-year-old daughter Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez in the shooting, slammed the response from police in remarks to Houston-based television news station KHOU.
"They let our babies get slaughtered. Sacrificed," he said. "While their a**** were sitting behind a wall. You know what, that doesn't help our children. We need to find out who's accountable for all this."
Police, upon arrival, entered the school but quickly retreated over concerns they could be shot if they engaged Ramos. Officers were ordered to stand down by Police Chief Peter Arredondo, who believed the shooter barricaded himself in a classroom and that the children were no longer an active threat. Border patrol agents killed the gunman nearly an hour later after ignoring the order.
Other family members have also criticized the officers' response.
"Ridiculous, man. They're here to protect our community, and they didn't. They were being selfish, you know?" Jose Mata, who lost his 10-year-old brother Xavier Lopez in the shooting, told the news station.
Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said during a Friday news conference that holding back the officers was not the best decision.
"It was a wrong decision. Period. There was no excuse for that," he said. "There were plenty of officers to do what needed to be done, with one exception, is that the incident commander inside believed he needed more equipment and more officers to do a tactical breach at that time."
Texas elected officials have become highly critical of the response. GOP Governor Greg Abbott said Friday he was "absolutely livid" over being "misled" about the response after previously praising police for their response.
"There will be ongoing investigations that detail exactly who knew what when, who was in charge and what strategy [was used], why that particular strategy was employed, why were other strategies not employed," he said.
