A timeline of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and the police inaction that day
- On May 24, 2022, a shooter opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
- This timeline shows how the gunman killed 19 children and two teachers before police killed him.
On Tuesday, May 24, an 18-year-old gunman opened fire on children and teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Two teachers and 19 children were killed, making it the deadliest school shooting since the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012. Over an hour after police arrived, law enforcement shot and killed the gunman at the scene.
On July 17, 2022, the Texas House of Representatives released a committee report detailing its investigation into the shooting and a timeline of events that occurred before, during, and after the massacre.
September 2021 to February 2022: The shooter asks his sister to help him buy a gun and purchases gun accessories and ammunition
While still 17, the shooter asked at least two people, including his sister, to buy him a gun, but both refused, according to the report. In November 2021 and February 2022, the shooter also bought several gun-related accessories online, including rifle slings, a military vest, and 60 rounds of ammunition, the report says.
April 2022: The shooter starts to allude to plans of violence on social media
On April 2, 2022, the shooter asked an Instagram user if they would "remember me in 50-something days" in a message. When the user responded "probably not," the shooter said "we'll see in May," according to the report.
"The attacker often connected those dates with doing something that would make him famous and put him 'all over the news,' and many of those with whom he chatted suspected his cryptic deadlines meant violence," the report says. "For example, in a May 14th conversation he simply wrote '10 more days.'"
May 16, 2022: The shooter buys a semiautomatic rifle the day after he turns 18
He bought two assault weapons in the days after he turned 18 on May 16, 2022, the report says.
On May 16, he purchased a Daniel Defense AR-15-style rifle and 1,740 rounds of ammunition, according to the report.
Texas State Sen. Roland Gutierrez also said the gunman's posts on social media "suggested the kids should watch out," the AP reported.
May 17: The shooter purchases a second 'Ar-15 style' rifle
The next day, the shooter bought a Smith & Wesson AR-15-style rifle and returned the following day to buy an additional 375 rounds of ammunition, spending a total of at least $4,897 on weapons, according to the report.
May 24, morning: schoolchildren prepare for end-of-year festivities
Students had been invited to wear "a nice outfit with fun/fancy shoes" as part of the school's end-of-year celebrations, according to a schedule posted on the school's Facebook page. These celebrations included an honor roll award ceremony.
The students at Robb Elementary had two days left in the school year.
May 24, 11:21 a.m.: The gunman sends a text message saying he shot his grandmother
At 10:50 a.m., the gunman texts a friend in Germany telling her he was angry at his grandmother and going to "do something to her rn."
Fifteen minutes later, he sent two more messages saying he shot his grandmother and is going to shoot people at the school. The German teen responds with one word, according to the report: "Cool."
11:28 a.m.: The gunman crashes into a ditch near the school
Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw said the shooter had been living with his grandmother since March 2022, and he used her car to drive approximately two miles, crashing when he was "about a block and a half away from the school."
"He crashed the vehicle at that point in time," McCraw said in a press conference after the shooting. "He exited with a backpack. He took a rifle with him."
Eduardo Trinidad, an eyewitness to the aftermath of the crash, told local outlet KPRC-2 that the vehicle went through a barricade and into a concrete ditch.
Juan Carranza told the Associated Press he also saw the crash and that the gunman fired at two people outside a nearby funeral home.
11:29 a.m.: A teacher sees the gunman approaching the building, closes the open door on the school's west side, and calls 911
Police originally said a teacher left a door open on the school's west end that allowed the gunman to enter the building, but surveillance video shows the educator closed the door before he reached it, the report says.
11:31 a.m.: The gunman walks through the school's parking lot
Public safety officials originally said an armed school resource officer approached the gunman before he entered the school, and that there was an exchange of gunfire.
But Victor Escalon, a regional director for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at a press conference days later that wasn't true.
"It was reported that a school district police officer confronted the suspect," Escalon said. "That's not accurate," he added. "[The gunman] walked in unobstructed initially."
In the 12 minutes between arriving at and entering the school, the gunman shot at two funeral workers and the school itself before police showed up.
11:31 a.m.: school resource officer drives past gunman, accidentally confronts teacher instead
Texas law enforcement officers said a school resource officer drove past the 18-year-old gunman outside Robb Elementary School and accidentally confronts a teacher instead.
After a teacher calls police to report that someone had crashed a vehicle in a ditch at 11:30 a.m., the gunman then began shooting at the school, McCraw told reporters during the press conference.
11:33 a.m.: The suspect enters the school
The shooter enters the school, likely through the door on the west end of the building that the teacher had closed earlier, the report says.
The door was either "already unlocked or the lock failed to engage, which the teacher could not have known because the doors lock from the outside," the report says.
According to the report, none of three exterior doors to the school were locked, which is a violation of school policy.
The shooter walks through the hallway and then enters room 111 and starts shooting, the report says. The shooter briefly leaves the room, then returns and starts shooting again in rooms 111 and 112, which were connected.
He fired at least 100 rounds in just over two and a half minutes inside rooms 111 and 112, the report says.
"The attacker fired most of his shots and likely murdered most of his innocent victims before any responder set foot in the building," the report says.
Speaking on the "Today" show, Lt. Chris Olivarez said the shooter had "barricaded" himself in a single classroom where all his victims were clustered. Notably, the shooter was able to do this despite the school district's comprehensive security plan, which included police officers and locking doors.
"He began shooting children, teachers, anybody that was in his way. He was shooting people that were in front of him," Olivarez told KPRC-2.
11:35 a.m.: Officers arrive and enter the school
At 11:35 a.m., two separate groups of police officers enter the building through two different doors, the report says. One of the doors that police entered through was the same door the shooter used to get into the building.
11:37 a.m.: The shooter fires at officers and drives them back
Two officers approach the divider between rooms 111 and 112, but the suspect fires at them, causing building debris to graze the officers, the report says. Both officers did not return fire, according to the report.
11:38 a.m.: Law enforcement believes the shooter is contained
Uvalde Police Chief Pete Arredondo checks room 110 and tells other officers there were no children inside because it was awards day, the report says.
Arredondo testified that "he prayed that if Room 110 was empty, the children might be gone from the rooms occupied by the attacker as well."
Police began treating the shooter as a "barricaded subject" rather than an "active shooter" at this point, and never changed their designation of his threat level throughout the altercation after it, the report says.
11:43 a.m.: School officials post a public notice saying they're on lockdown
"Please know at this time Robb Elementary is under a Lockdown Status due to gunshots in the area. The students and staff are safe in the building. The building is secure in a Lockdown Status," read a notice posted on the school's Facebook page.
Shortly after came another post: "There is an active shooter at Robb Elementary." The school said law enforcement was "on site."
Onlookers urge law enforcement to confront the shooter
Onlookers outside the school urge police to charge the scene and confront the shooter, even getting so frustrated with the inactivity that they suggest rushing the school themselves.
Javier Cazares, whose fourth-grade daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, died in the rampage, said he arrived to the scene and saw law enforcement officials waiting outside the building.
"Let's just rush in because the cops aren't doing anything like they are supposed to," he told the Associated Press. "More could have been done. They were unprepared."
A spokesperson from Texas' Department of Public Safety told Insider at the time that it was his "understanding" that "several law enforcement responded and started to make entry into the school to evacuate students, teachers, and staff."
A mother breaks a police line to rescue her kids
Angeli Rose Gomez, a mother of two students at Robb Elementary, runs past a police line and jumps a fence to rescue her children from the school, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Gomez said she drove 40 miles to the school after hearing about the shooting, and found law enforcement just standing outside when she got there.
Parents scream at officers to enter the school
Videos uploaded to social media show Texas law enforcement personnel hold back desperate parents as they scream for officers to go into the school.
The footage captures a large group parents in a parking lot, pleading with officers, as school buses and police cars could be seen in the background. Many people are screaming and crying.
It's unclear if the video was taken during or after the shooting.
11:51 a.m.: police sergeant and US border agents start to arrive
Border Patrol agents couldn't get into the classroom and were forced to ask a staff member to open the door with a key, an anonymous law enforcement official familiar with the events told the Associated Press.
"At that point, we had a tactical law enforcement team arrive made up of multiple federal officers, local officers as well as state troopers, that were able to make forcible entry into that classroom," Olivarez said.
"They breached it, engaged the active shooter, and continued to keep him pinned down in that location afterwards until a tactical team could be put together," McCraw said, noting the tactical team included border patrol agents, local police officers, and sheriffs.
Initially, McCraw said the gunman was shot and killed around 40 minutes after his encounter with the school resource officer.
But then McCraw offered a drastically different version of events, strung together by 911 calls made by students locked inside classrooms during the shooting as officers remained in a hallway.
In a matter of days, the Texas authorities changed their timeline of events at least 13 times.
12:03 p.m.: Officers assemble in the hallways and students begin to call 911
The 911 calls placed by students suggest the gunfire lasted long after authorities said they arrived at the school.
At 12:03 p.m., a girl called 911 and identified herself through whispers, the report says. The call lasted for exactly one minute and 23 seconds, according to the report.
The Texas House committee report said the committee "received no evidence that any officer who did learn about phone calls coming from inside Rooms 111 and 112 acted on it to advocate shifting to an active shooter-style response or otherwise acting more urgently to breach the classrooms."
The girl was identified as Amerie Jo Garza by her grandmother, The Daily Beast reported. Garza's grandmother told the Beast she had just received her award for the school's honor roll. She did not survive.
The Uvalde police chief said in a statement that officers responded to the shooting "within minutes," but did not address if those officers actually went inside the school building.
12:10 p.m.: another 911 call
The same student called 911 again, and told the operator that multiple students were dead, the report says.
12:11 p.m.: Chief Arredondo requests a master key
Arredondo requests a master key, which became his "primary focus of his attention for the next 40 minutes," according to the Texas House committee report.
12:13 p.m.: another 911 call
The student called 911 a third time.
12:15 p.m.: Border Patrol Tactical Unit arrives
Officers waited in the hallway until a Border Patrol Tactical Unit arrived at 12:15 p.m.
12:16 p.m.: Student makes another 911 call and says 8-9 students are still alive
The student called 911 and explained for a third time that several of her classmates and one of her teachers were dead. She said her other teacher was wounded and hiding in room 112, the report says.
12:19 p.m.: another 911 call
A different student in classroom 111 called 911, and hung up after a classmate advised her to keep quiet.
12:21 p.m.: shots heard on 911 call
During that call to 911, McCraw said three shots could be heard over the phone. McCraw said it's believed he was firing at the door. At that point, officers waiting in the hallway moved closer, but had to ask a janitor for keys into the classroom, McCraw said.
A fourth-grade boy who survived the shooting told KENS 5 about the harrowing moments he and his classmates first realized they were under attack. After firing a shot at an adjoining door, the shooter walked into the young boy's classroom, he said.
"He came in and he crouched a little bit and he said, he said 'It's time to die,'" the fourth-grader told the outlet.
12:36 p.m.: another 911 call
The first student who called 911 called back and told the operator that the gunman shot at the door.
12:45 p.m.: Border Patrol Tactical Unit goes in
A Border Patrol Tactical Unit disregards orders to not engage with the gunman 30 minutes after their arrival on the scene, NBC News reported.
12:50 p.m.: Border Patrol Tactical Unit kills the gunman
"They breached the classroom door. They went in, engaged (the shooter), and killed him at the scene," McCraw said.
Shots were heard over the student's 911 call, as well as the sounds of officers moving children out of the classroom.
That was 77 minutes after the gunman entered the school, and 75 minutes after police arrived on the scene.
This story has been updated with new information.