“Should a tactical staff have gone in in advance of an hour elapsed?” one reporter asked Escalon.
“There’s a ton of prospects,” he replied. “Once we interview all all those officers, what they were being contemplating, what they did, why they did it, the video, the residual interviews, we’ll have a much better idea. Could any individual have got there sooner? You gotta have an understanding of, compact city.”
One more reporter questioned if it was accurate that mother and father stood outside the college urging police to go in, as has been greatly noted — even inquiring to borrow police physique armor so they could do it by themselves.
Escalon hesitated a defeat in advance of responding: “I have listened to that information, but we have not verified that but.”
Escalon also walked again or contradicted facts that legislation enforcement officials had released several hours earlier: No officer experienced essentially confronted the gunman before he entered the school, he stated. He wasn’t sure whether the gunman entered the university as a result of an improperly unlocked doorway. And he did not know how prolonged it took law enforcement to respond to the initial 911 connect with — basic data at a normal law enforcement news convention.
As Escalon walked away, after getting 10 questions over 20 minutes, a number of reporters pleaded with him to take a problem “en español, por favor.” It appeared he did not answer, irrespective of South Texas’s massive Spanish-speaking populace.
Major breaking information events — specifically a chaotic incident this kind of as a mass taking pictures — are often subject matter to conflicting reports and mistaken information and facts. Nevertheless journalists on the scene Thursday openly expressed annoyance about the absence of solutions provided a whole two days immediately after the tragedy.
“There are gaps and confusion surrounding contradictions in the information and facts we have been presented so significantly,” Texas Tribune reporter Reese Oxner wrote on Twitter.
“It raises extra inquiries than responses,” correspondent Janet Shamlian reported in a report for CBS News on Thursday. “Parents are likely to be incredibly pissed off by this.”
The function was still one more fumble for Texas officers, who have struggled to response questions about Tuesday’s assault amid a countrywide outpouring of grief and rage. A information convention Wednesday with Gov. Greg Abbott (R) descended into shouting and cursing following Democratic gubernatorial nominee Beto O’Rourke interrupted it to confront him. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) stormed absent from an job interview at a vigil the very same day following a reporter questioned him why gun massacres have been so typical in the United States.
Escalon’s account still left huge gaps in the timeline of occasions, in particular what happened for a complete hour immediately after the to start with law enforcement reaction to studies of a car or truck crash “and a guy with a gun,” and what occurred through an assault by Border Patrol agents that led to the suspect’s demise.
Some observers were being baffled by the abrupt way Escalon delivered Thursday’s most important new information — the reality that no officer confronted the gunman ahead of he entered the college, contrary to what law enforcement officers had stated formerly.
“The officials understood that was the key question of the day and should really have been much better ready to remedy it,” reported Dave Statter, a previous Television reporter who now advises general public protection businesses on communications problems. Police could have quickly shared that information by means of social media or information release in advance of the conference.
Escalon “seemed to be winging it and was certainly not all set for key time,” reported Mark Feldstein, a veteran Television set journalist who is now a professor of journalism at the College of Maryland. “He requested more issues than he answered and was extended on emotion but small on stable information and facts.”
The “confused and rambling” overall performance, as Feldstein explained it, underscored the escalating considerations and inquiries about the however-blurry timeline. “This is not what that town demands after so a great deal trauma.”
“Ducking and jogging, dodging and dissembling, neither answers issues nor evokes self esteem,” stated Frank Sesno, the former CNN anchor and previous director of the College of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University.