Uvalde Presser Goes Off Rails as Reporters Demand Answers on Police Response: ‘Why Don’t You Clear Up’ All The ‘Bad Info’?

Victor Escalon, of the Texas Department of Public Safety was grilled by reporters on Thursday afternoon over new information indicating authorities waited an hour before entering the classroom where the Uvalde massacre shooter had barricaded himself inside with children.

As the press conference became increasingly tense, one reporter asked about reports “that some parents were asking to borrow police armor so they could make a counterassault on the school?”

“I have heard that information. But we have not verified that yet,” Escalon responded.

“What part haven’t you verified?” shouted out another reporter.

“We have not verified if that is a true statement or not, or is it just rumor out there? You got to understand. We’re getting a lot of information. We’re trying to track down and see what is true. We want to vet it,” Escalon replied before trying to end the presser.

“That’s all I have for questions. Thank you so much,” he said.

“Did you follow best practices?” shouted another reporter over a loud wave of noise and questions.

“Hold on, hold on,” Escalon said, addressing the visibly frustrated reporters.

“So, look, we appreciate the questions,” he continued as questions were being yelled at him.

“What were the officers doing between 11:44 and 12:45?” one reporter could be heard asking.

“Barricaded behind that — you guys have said that he was barricaded. Can you explain to us how he was barricaded and why you guys cannot breach that door?” asked another reporter.

“So, I have taken all your questions into consideration. We will be doing updates,” Escalon continued.

“We will be doing updates to answer those questions,” he added.

“You should be able to answer that question now, sir,” shot back one reporter.

“What is your name?” Escalon then asked.

“Shimon Prokupecz from CNN. We’ve been given a lot of bad information, so why don’t you clear all of this up now and explain to us how it is that your officers who were in there for an hour, yes, rescuing people, but yet no one was able to get inside that room,” Prokupecz asked.

“Shimon, we will circle back with you. We want to give you the why. That’s our job. Give us time. I’m taking your questions back to talk to the team,” Escalon replied.

“Can you tell us how the door was barricaded?” yelled another reporter.

“Thank you for being here. We’ll talk soon,” Escalon said, finally walking away from the microphones.

Watch the full clip above via CNN

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