Upon being called to the scene to investigate and take action, the local police force in Uvalde, Tex., complained about having to go inside Robb Elementary School over fears of getting shot, newly released bodycam footage shows.
The armed men covered in body armor spoke to each other about fears or being "clapped out," shot, or otherwise put in unnecessary danger if they entered the school where an alleged massacre took place on May 24.
A local NBC News affiliate reportedly obtained the bodycam footage, which depicts a conversation between two unidentified officers who were unsure what they were even supposed to do upon arriving at Robb Elementary School.
"Want to jump the f***ing gate or what?" one of them asked.
"What is the safest way to do this?" then asked the other. "I'm not trying to get clapped out." (Related: Back in July, the mayor of Uvalde warned of a "cover-up" in the local police response to the incident at the school.)
"Me either," the first officer then said back to the other. "I also don't like standing right by the windows where we can get shot, bro."
Why did local police in Uvalde seem to not know what was going on?
The sense one gets from watching the footage is that the two men were simply confused about what was going on and how they were supposed to safely respond to it.
Many in the public were also confused as there was never any actual evidence presented that backs the official narrative surrounding what allegedly took place inside the building that day.
"You're going to put yourself in danger," another officer was heard stating at the scene of the incident, where nobody seemed to know who was even part of the Special Response Team that was sent there.
On October 7, the entire Uvalde police force was suspended because of all this confusion. They are accused of failing to take appropriate action in response to the situation.
Former school district police chief Peter Arredondo was also let go a few months prior in August.
The official story goes like this: on May 24, gunman Salvador Ramos entered Robb Elementary School at 11:33 a.m. and proceeded to shoot up the place. Within minutes, police arrived on the scene.
As Ramos was going from room to room, we are told that police did not attempt to cordon off rooms 111 and 112, which were both unlocked. This allowed Ramos to allegedly hide inside the rooms and continue his massacre.
At 11:40 a.m., Arredondo, who was without a radio at the time, called dispatch to say that he and his guys were "inside the building" and that Ramos was "in one room."
"I need a lot of firepower, so I need this building surrounded," Arredondo then said. "Surrounded with as many AR-15s as possible."
Arredondo then reportedly tried checking different keys to see if he could access the room, which was already unlocked. However, he is said to have been at the wrong door to a room safely away from the shooter.
At 12:16 p.m., a child on an emergency line called in to beg for help, only to have Arredondo say out loud: "tell them to f***ing wait."
The day would go on with similarly inexplicable behavior by Arredondo, whom critics say was not all that interested in saving the children and was instead focused on protecting himself and other officers from harm.
DPS head Steve McCraw would later state that Ramos could have been neutralized in "three minutes," while the Texas House also confirmed that Arredondo acted too slowly.
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