- Authorities told one Uvalde victim's mother that her daughter may have lived if police breached the classroom sooner.
- Democratic State Sen. Ronald Gutierrez shared the tragic anecdote on CNN Sunday morning.
- Gutierrez has called for a special legislative session to address gun control in Texas.
Texas authorities told the mother of one Uvalde school shooting victim that her daughter may have survived if police entered the classroom sooner, a Texas state senator said on Sunday.
State Sen. Ronald Gutierrez, a Democrat who represents Uvalde, told CNN's "State of the Union" about the slain child, who was one of 19 school children and two teachers to be killed by the 18-year-old gunman on March 24.
"Mom told me that her child had been shot by one bullet through the back, through the kidney area," Gutierrez told CNN. "The first responder that they eventually talked to said that their child likely bled out. In that span of 30 or 40 minutes extra, that little girl might have lived."
In at least 12 instances, police have changed the narrative of how law enforcement reacted to the shooting.
"I have asked (the Department of Public Safety) 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," Gutierrez said.
—CNN (@CNN) May 29, 2022
Local authorities initially claimed they responded "within minutes" to the shooting. By Wednesday, officials said roughly 40 minutes to an hour passed between the time the shooter entered the premises and when he was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent. Authorities now say the gunman's rampage within the school lasted a total of 78 minutes.
"So absolutely, these mistakes may have led to the passing away of these children as well," Gutierrez said on Sunday.
Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw said on Friday that Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo was the on-scene commander during the rampage. McCraw said Arredondo wrongly made the call to delay authorities from breaching the classroom where the gunman was shooting.
Gutierrez said he has spoken with McCraw about placing the blame solely on Arredondo. When asked by CNN's Dana Bash if any authorities at the scene challenged Arredondo's decision at the time, Gutierrez said, "Unfortunately, no."
"It is 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," Gutierrez said .
During a press conference with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Gutierrez called for a special legislative session to address gun control.