Shooting response under scrutiny as Biden plans visit

The gunman entered Robb Elementary School “unobstructed” before the massacre and was not confronted by anyone, authorities said Thursday.

Victor Escalon Jr., a regional director for the Texas Department of Public Safety, clarified to reporters that the gunman, identified by police as Salvador Rolando Ramos, 18, was not met by a police officer with the school district when he entered the school Tuesday.

“He walked in unobstructed,” Escalon said during a 15-minute news conference. “He was not confronted by anybody.”

Ramos was eventually killed by authorities.

Escalon stressed to reporters that the investigation is ongoing, and that multiple agencies were “still grabbing a lot of information” nearly 48 hours removed from the worst mass shooting at an American school in nearly a decade.

“We won’t stop until we get all the answers that we possibly can,” he said.

Jayden Ruiz had just turned in a test on U.S. wars of the 20th century around noon Tuesday when an alert lit up his teacher’s phone. Uvalde High School was going into lockdown, it said.

Students dragged their desks to block off the corner where they were huddled, 15-year-old Jayden said Thursday. They didn’t know if they were experiencing a real emergency or a drill, he said, and they didn’t want to take any chances.

Then they saw a social media video of a gunman entering Robb Elementary School. At 12:17 p.m., an email from the district confirmed the worst-case scenario: There was an active shooter.

Students exchanged frantic text messages as a helicopter whirred overhead and rumors began to fly. Were there two shooters? Were police chasing an undocumented immigrant? Was the gunman already dead?

Thoughts of Jayden’s cousin, a third-grade student at Robb, raced through his brain. But he said he didn’t panic — he was too focused on comforting his ninth-grade sister, who was texting the family that she was crying, and his classmates, who feared that the shooter would come to their school next.

“When all this was happening, I was inside scared for people and some of my stuff and my friends, but like I’ve always been taught, I had to keep my head on a swivel,” Jayden said. “So I was just calm, telling everyone, ‘You all are good.’ ”

After students were released about four hours later, Jayden said he and his sister spent the evening at a family friend’s home, eating, playing games and talking about their shock.

On Thursday, Jayden said he was still processing what had happened. His cousin remained shaken, he said, after the gunman shot at her and her friend — and missed — as they ran out of the school. Jayden planned to spend the day making sure his girlfriend, a fellow high school student, was all right.

“I just didn’t think that it would ever happen to our small town. I really didn’t,” he said. “And my thought was, why an elementary school of all places?”

CHICAGO — In responding to the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott used a familiar target to defend the rights of gun owners: Chicago.

At a news conference Wednesday, Abbott (R) criticized Chicago for having gun laws he said do nothing to quell gun violence in its neighborhoods.

“There are more people who are shot every weekend in Chicago than there are in schools in Texas. And we need to realize that people who think that, well, maybe we can just implement tougher gun laws, it’s gonna solve it,” he said. “And so, if you’re looking for a real solution, Chicago teaches that what you’re talking about is not a real solution.”

Republicans have repeatedly used Chicago as an example to counter critics who say gun-control legislation is needed to help prevent mass shootings.

The Chicago Police Department calls these statements a distortion, while gun-control advocates note the city’s gun laws are comparable to those in most cities its size. Over the past 12 years, state and federal court decisions have ended Chicago’s gun registry, handgun ban and ban on gun shops. Concealed carry of weapons is allowed in the city, but with restrictions.

Data from the University of Chicago Crime Lab also shows that the influx of firearms used in crimes originates from gun shops in surrounding suburbs as well as northwest Indiana, a state that has far looser gun laws than Illinois.

Chicago, which has a population of about 2.7 million, is also far from becoming a “murder capital.” Although the number of gun-related homicides may be higher, the homicide rate is often exceeded by smaller cities, including Detroit, St. Louis, Baltimore and New Orleans. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that Illinois and Texas have similar rates of firearm deaths.

Abbott’s remarks on Wednesday riled Illinois officials, prompting Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) to say on Twitter that Abbott was “lying” by creating a “false narrative about Chicago and Illinois.”

He added: “It’s an excuse that politicians like you hide behind to stop the federal legislation we need to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people.”

Investigators on Thursday afternoon will interview the school resource officer who was cited in early reports as the member of law enforcement who first made contact with the shooter, according to an official with the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The chain of events around which members of law enforcement first engaged the shooter remains unclear; meanwhile, questions are growing over the decision-making by the law enforcement personnel who responded to the school. Parents and witnesses were seen in a video gathered outside the school after reports of an active shooter, frustrated by the police response.

Lt. Chris Olivarez with the Texas Department of Public Safety told The Post on Thursday that officials first received a report that the school resource officer had shot the gunman but are not so sure now and will seek to establish his movements when they interview him.

“What we’re trying to establish now is what exactly was that school resource officer’s role — how did he respond? Where was he responding? Where did he actually see the shooter?” Olivarez said.

Responding to claims that the officer’s account of events has shifted, Olivarez said an officer “may say something at that particular instance but the next day, when they’re able to have time to reflect and gather their thoughts, that’s when we can interview them and establish what actually took place.”

Olivarez said investigators have not confirmed whether officers were waiting outside the school but that those who arrived at the scene did “make entry.”

“In any active-shooter situation, the protocol is to address the threat,” he said.

A tactical team comprising multiple agencies, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, a deputy from neighboring Zavala County and local police, arrived after the first officers entered the campus, he said.

“You want to address the threat, you want to stop the threat, you want to stop the killing,” he said. “But, of course, in this particular instance, we’re trying to establish exactly what roles and the times these officers gained entry.”

Bye, bye, Don McLean.

The singer and songwriter announced that he’s dropping out from performing at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting this weekend in Houston, saying it would be “disrespectful and hurtful” to perform days after 19 children and two adults were killed in a mass shooting in the state.

McLean, who is best-known for his legendary 1971 folk rock anthem “American Pie,” was scheduled to perform Saturday night during the NRA’s Grand Ole Night of Freedom concert. But those plans changed when a gunman, identified by police as Salvador Ramos, 18, entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Tex., and started firing on children in the worst mass shooting at an American school in nearly a decade.

“In light of the recent events in Texas, I have decided it would be disrespectful and hurtful for me to perform for the NRA at their convention in Houston this week,” McLean, 76, said in a statement. “I’m sure all the folks planning to attend this event are shocked and sickened by these events as well. After all, we are all Americans.”

The news was first reported by the Portland Press Herald.

McLean is among a few performers who’ve announced they will no longer perform at this weekend’s convention. Country and gospel singer Larry Gatlin and Larry Stewart of the country band Restless Heart also said Thursday that they were dropping out in response to the shooting at Robb Elementary School.

Gatlin said he was also dropping out due to what he cited as the NRA’s “outdated and ill-thought-out positions regarding firearms” in the United States.

“My prayers and thoughts go to all who are suffering, and I pray that the NRA will rethink some of its outdated and ill-thought-out positions regarding firearms in AMERICA,” he said. “I’m a 2nd Amendment guy, but the 2nd amendment should not apply to everyone. It’s that simple.”