A Texas House of Representatives committee investigating the Robb Elementary School shooting will hold a hearing on Thursday morning in Uvalde.
The committee is expected to hear from law enforcement authorities and other people related to the investigation of the May 24 shooting, which left 19 fourth-grade students and two teachers dead.
Witnesses will be questioned in executive session “because of the quasi-judicial nature of the committee’s investigation,” according to state officials.
In a committee hearing last week in Austin, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw revealed in a closed-door session that Uvalde CISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo delayed officers for over an hour to confront the gunman, according to ABC News.
Arredondo, who was the incident commander on the scene, made the call “to allow time for protective gear to arrive,” although he was aware that some people inside the classrooms needed urgent care, ABC News reports.
He did so in order to lower the risk to law enforcement officers, ABC News reported.
Arredondo defended the delay in an interview with the Texas Tribune.
He said law enforcement officers didn’t have a key to get inside the room where the gunman was, and he didn’t have a radio, so he was unaware of children calling 911 and pleading for help.
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