Uvalde SWAT member wanted to breach classroom door but was told to stand down

A Uvalde, Texas SWAT chief, Sgt. Eduardo Canales, who was early on the scene at Robb Elementary School told the other police "we gotta get in there" after gunman Salvador Ramos entered classrooms full of children.

The New York Post reports that bodycam footage reveals Canales yelled "Watch that door! Watch that door!" directly before Ramos shot through the door at Canales and the police. Canales checked for personal injuries and then pressed his fellow police and said, "Dude, we’ve got to get in there. We’ve got to get in there, he just keeps shooting. We’ve got to get in there."

Despite his pleas for action Canales was repeatedly told by a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) officer to stand down and that DPS was "sending their people" to deal with the situation.

Footage released by DPS appears to confirm Canales was accompanied by police officer Ruben Ruiz, the husband of one of the teachers in the classroom. Ruiz was communicating with his wife via their cell phones and she eventually told him she was shot. When Ruiz then tried to rush the room he was detained, disarmed and prevented from saving his wife by other police.

Ruiz's wife, Eve Mireles, died along with another adult and nineteen children.

In a similar instance, Sheriff's deputy Felix Rubio, whose daughter was murdered, can be seen at one point trying to get closer to the classroom door only to be restrained by two officers. Many parents were detailed on the scene who wanted to save their children, including one mother who has faced harassment from the local department for speaking up publicly about what happened.

DPS Director Steve McCraw referred to the police response to Uvalde as an "abject failure" in a May report and has placed blame at the feet of Pete Arredondo, the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief.

Arredondo, who didn't have a radio and spent time trying to find keys to already unlocked doors, said "Tell them to f*cking wait" as kids died while he was pressed to do something about the shooter.

Footage from the day has shown that, under Arredondo's command, police can be seen using the hand sanitizer on a nearby wall while another stands idly by, leaning against a wall, looking at his phone.