Texas state senator on Uvalde shooting: 'Every agency at that scene should be taking heat'

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Uvalde school shooting: Texas state senator says 'every agency' on scene should be 'taking heat' over police response

Texas State Sen. Roland Gutierrez joined 'America's Newsroom' to discuss the outrage over the police response and potential fraud surrounding fundraising in wake of the massacre.

A Texas state senator whose district includes Uvalde told Fox News on Tuesday that every police agency that responded to the Robb Elementary school shooting "should be taking heat" for their actions. 

Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat, made the comment on ‘America’s Newsroom’ as law enforcement continues to be criticized for not confronting 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos sooner during last week’s mass shooting. Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw suggested Friday that the delay was because "the on-scene commander at the time believed that it had transitioned from an active shooter to a barricaded subject." 

"He's taking a lot of heat for sure, but I think that every agency at that scene should be taking heat," Gutierrez said Tuesday. "Listen, active shooter protocols say you go in. We are putting it all on the local cop with six cops beneath him." 

Gutierrez says he has asked McCraw for more answers regarding the police response to the shooting, which ultimately left 19 children and two teachers dead. 

Law enforcement, and other first responders, gather outside Robb Elementary School following a shooting on Tuesday, May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. (AP/Dario Lopez-Mills)

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"I want to know when each officer was there from whatever law enforcement entity and where they were situated," he told "America’s Newsroom." "And I’m also asking for the manuals of those agencies to determine this notion of officer in operational control.  

"At what point do we not give that to the greater entity that has more manpower, more ammunition, more equipment. State troopers are fully equipped to handle this type of situation," Gutierrez continued. "That should have been done – even the federal government waited for a bit. Finally one said ‘to hell with it, we are going in’." 

A campaign sign for Pete Arredondo, the chief of police for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, is seen in Uvalde, Texas, on Monday, May 30. Arredondo was the on-scene commander during the shooting, officials say. (AP/Jae C. Hong)

Gutierrez also said the community needs "some mental health resources" in the wake of the attack – and warned the public about giving money to fraudulent organizations claiming to raise money for the victims’ families. 

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"There is a lot of fraud going on. I don’t want people to stop giving, but just vet who you are giving to," he said, noting that he has asked Texas’ Attorney General to investigate the matter. "There are a lot of these so-called organizations raising money on these poor babies’ images, these families’ names and that money is not going to where it needs to go." 

Mourners visit a memorial for a victim's of Tuesday's mass shooting at an elementary school, in City of Uvalde Town Square on May 26, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

"People need to grieve," he also said, describing the shooting as "the most tragic thing I have ever seen as a senator, as a state representative in my history as a public servant."