Texas Democrat state Sen. Roland Gutierrez said Tuesday that police on the scene of the mass shooting in Uvalde were never given the official command to breach the classroom at Robb Elementary School.
Gutierrez, during an interview with CNN, was asked by host Kate Bolduan, "Is it your understanding that no command decision was ever made to breach the classroom?"
Said Gutierrez: "That is my understanding. What I have been told from law
enforcement is that [Border Patrol officers] finally took it upon themselves and said, 'We're going in.' "
Gutierrez added that he spoke with Texas Department of Safety head Steve McCraw, who said that a complete report about law enforcement’s response to the shooting will be prepared for release by the end of the week.
Gutierrez said police at the scene had a "communications problem" that probably caused more deaths inside the classroom.
"That's the failure in this entire system, in this entire process. We have multiple state agencies, federal agencies, localized agencies, and somewhere along the way, there’s a communications problem," Gutierrez said. "We're not hearing 911 disturbance calls. We're not hearing proper radio transmissions. I'm going to be asking for radio transmissions next. Kids are alive. Clearly, they’re alive. This is not a barricade situation, and the information is flowing in."