In article <XnsACBCBE595D3EFgda@95.216.243.224>
<governor.swill@gmail.com> wrote:

Two Uvalde city police officers passed up a fleeting chance to
shoot a gunman outside Robb Elementary School before he went on
to kill 21 people inside the school, a senior sheriff's deputy
told The New York Times.

That would mean a second missed opportunity for officers to stop
Salvador Ramos before the May 24 rampage inside the school that
killed 19 children and two teachers. Officials said that a
school district police drove past Ramos without seeing him in
the school parking lot.

The unidentified officers, one of whom was armed with an AR-15-
style rifle, said they feared hitting children playing in the
line of fire outside the school, Chief Deputy Ricardo Rios of
nearby Zavalla County told the newspaper.

The officers' chance of stopping Ramos passed quickly, perhaps
in seconds, Rios said.

Messages from The Associated Press to Rios and the Zavala County
Sheriff's Office have not been returned. The Zavala County
sheriff's officials responded to the shooting in support of
Uvalde and Uvalde County officers.

Rios said he had shared the information with a special Texas
Legislature committee investigating the school massacre.

Uvalde police officials agreed Friday to speak to the committee
investigating, according to a Republican lawmaker leading the
probe who had begun to publicly question why the officers were
not cooperating sooner.

"Took a little bit longer than we initially had expected," state
Rep. Dustin Burrows said.

On Thursday, Burrows signaled impatience with Uvalde police,
tweeting that most people had fully cooperated with their
investigation "to help determine the facts" and that he didn't
understand why the city's police force "would not want the
same." He did not say which members of the department will meet
with the committee, which is set to continue questioning
witnesses in Uvalde on Monday about the attack.

Uvalde police did not reply to messages seeking comment.

Weeks after one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S.
history, law enforcement officials have stopped providing
updates about what they've learned about the shooting and the
police response. Their silence comes after authorities gave
conflicting and incorrect accounts in the days after the
shooting, sometimes withdrawing statements hours after making
them.

Officials also haven't released records sought under public
information laws to media outlets, often citing broad exemptions
and the ongoing investigation. It has raised concerns about
whether such records will be released, even to victims' families.

The state House committee has interviewed more than a dozen
witnesses behind closed doors so far, including state police,
school staff and school district police. The list of witnesses
provided by the committee so far has not included Pete
Arrendondo, the Uvalde school district police chief, who has
faced criticism over his actions during the attack.

Arrendondo told The Texas Tribune he didn't consider himself the
person in charge as the shooting unfolded and assumed someone
else had taken control of the law enforcement response. He also
said he intentionally left behind both his police and campus
radios before entering the school.

Burrows defended the committee interviewing witnesses in private
and not revealing their findings so far, saying its members want
an accurate account before issuing a report.

"One person's truth may be different than another person's
truth," Burrows said Friday.

Authorities say the 18-year-old gunman used and AR-15-style semi-
automatic rifle. Police did not confront he gunman for more than
an hour, even as anguished parents outside the school urged
officers to go in.

Since the shooting, Republican leaders in Texas have called for
more mental health funding but not new gun restrictions.

Meanwhile, Democratic and Republican senators were at odds over
how to keep firearms from dangerous people as bargainers
struggled to finalize details of a gun violence compromise.

Lawmakers said they remained divided over how to define abusive
dating partners who would be legally barred from purchasing
firearms. Disagreements were also unresolved over proposals to
send money to states that have "red flag" laws that let
authorities temporarily confiscate guns from people deemed
dangerous by courts, and to other states for their own violence
prevention programs.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-school-shooting-uvalde-
officers-chance-to-shoot-gunman-deputy-says/?intcid=CNI-00-
10aaa3a