A mother who ran into Robb Elementary School to save her children has spoken out about being handcuffed by police during the incident.
Law enforcement have faced criticism in the aftermath of the May 24 shootings in Uvalde, Texas which left 21 dead, including 19 children. According to reports, police waited outside the school for 77 minutes after arriving on scene, opting not to storm the building to neutralize the threat.
Naturally, distraught parents who had assembled outside were desperate to save their children stuck inside with the gunman.
One such parent was Angeli Gomez, a mom and farmworker who lives in Uvalde. She told of her dismay upon arriving at Robb Elementary School to see authorities not only refusing to enter the premises, but also preventing parents from doing so.
After much struggle, Gomez was eventually able to force her way inside the school. As per Little Things, she’s now telling her side of the story.
The mom had attended her kids’ graduation ceremony at Robb Elementary School on the morning of May 24. After leaving for work, she received news of the shooting and so turned her car around and drove 40 miles back as quickly as she could.
When she arrived, though, she said she was shocked to see officers still standing by.
Speaking to CBS News, she explained: “Right away, as soon as I parked my car, US marshals started coming towards my car saying I wasn’t allowed to be parked there.
“He said, ‘We’re going to have to arrest you because you’re being very uncooperative,’ and I said, ‘Well, you’re going to have to arrest me because I’m going in there, and I’m telling you right now — I don’t see none of y’all in there.’”
The mom added: “I told one of the officers, ‘I don’t need you to protect me. Get away from me. I don’t need your protection. If anything, I need you to go in with me to go protect my kids’.”
Gomez was handcuffed, but ran into the school as soon as the cuffs were removed. She said that no other officers were inside the building when she entered, though shots continued to ring out.
Gomez went to her sons’ classrooms to collect them, then led them out of the building holding their hands.
“Nothing was being done,” she said of law enforcement’s response. “If anything, [law enforcement] were being more aggressive on us parents that were willing to go in there.”
She added: “They could have saved many more lives. They could have gone into the classroom, and maybe two or three would have been gone, but they could have saved the whole, more, the whole class. They could have done something — gone through the window, sniped him through the window. Something, but nothing was being done.”
As per reports, an investigation is underway by the US Justice Department regarding the police response to the shooting.
It breaks my heart to think that more children could have been saved if law enforcement had entered the school earlier than they did.
Thank God Angeli was able to rescue her two boys.
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