A Texas state police chief tried to delay a law enforcement team that entered classrooms to end the massacre at Robb Elementary and is now among those being investigated after an account from someone at the scene said he ordered his officers to stay outside the school in the initial response to the shooting, sources tell CNN.
CNN has obtained a new recording of Capt. Joel Betancourt ordering a strike team to wait, more than 70 minutes after the attack. Betancourt says he believed a more skilled team was on the way. Separately, police memos highlight criticism of Betancourt, a 15-year veteran of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).
The memos written just two days after the May 24 massacre and reviewed by CNN detail some of DPS’s involvement in law enforcement’s tentative but chaotic response to the shooting in Uvalde, Texas. No action was taken against the gunman or to help those trapped with him for 77 minutes, apart from the initial approach which was called off when he started shooting. Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in the massacre.
“I heard someone yell, Capt. Betancourt said all DPS personnel should be on the perimeter, don’t enter (sic) the building,” a DPS lieutenant said, after writing how he had driven from about 40 miles away at speeds of and 130 mph to reach the stage.
A DPS sergeant added in his memo: “As this was clearly against established training, we both decided to enter the building where the shooter was located.”
DPS director Col. Steven McCraw told CNN, “Yes, absolutely,” when asked if Bettencourt was being investigated for telling officers not to enter the hallway. “The IG is looking into this,” McCraw said during an impromptu interview before a meeting last month.
Betancourt was interviewed several times in the immediate aftermath of the incident and has since become one of seven current and former DPS officers referred for further investigation by the DPS inspector general, according to CNN from sources close to the events who were not authorized to speak. the media.
He told investigators he arrived at Robb Elementary about 12:45 p.m., minutes before the teenage gunman was killed, the sources said.
“Hi, this is DPS Chief Betancourt. The offending team must stand by. The offending team must stand by,” he ordered at 12:48 p.m. on May 24, as heard on audio from a police radio broadcast captured by several police officers’ body-worn cameras.
During the investigation, Betancourt told investigators he had no firsthand knowledge of what was going on, including that a specialized Border Patrol tactical unit, BORTAC, was dealing with the shooter, according to sources familiar with the investigation. He said he ordered the team to stand by because he believed a better unit was on its way, sources said.
He told the agents that no one responded or followed his command, the sources said.
The memos reviewed by CNN and audio footage offer evidence that contradicts the official DPS narrative that its officers were never in control or issued substantive orders. DPS Director McCraw has repeatedly criticized the school district’s then-Police Chief Pedro “Pete” Arredondo as leading the “major failure” of a response. Arredondo said he did not see himself as the commander of the incident.
CNN left messages for Betancourt by phone, email and text. He didn’t respond.
Betancourt remains active with DPS.
DPS declined to comment for this story.
Two officers have given accounts of the initial response to the shooting in which they were told not to enter the school. The officers did not say in their memos when they received that message. Betancourt told investigators he remembers telling DPS officers to stay outside and form a perimeter, but says that was after he arrived and was told by Uvalde Sheriff Ruben Nolasco that there were too many people inside, according to the sources. Nolasco has not responded to CNN’s requests for comment.
The names of the DPS officers under investigation have not been released. Betancourt’s involvement was confirmed to CNN by McCraw and other sources. Another of the seven, Crimson Elizondo, left DPS to work in the Uvalde school district this summer and was fired after CNN revealed what she said and did on the day of the massacre.
Betancourt, the highest-ranking officer known to be under investigation for the botched law enforcement response, told investigators he had little to do with the operation at Robb Elementary until the gunman was killed, sources close to the investigation told CNN.
Interviews from the immediate days after the incident, described to CNN by multiple sources, offer the first direct accounts from the officers now being examined by the inspector general.
Betancourt told investigators he had a clear recollection of being in Eagle Pass, Texas, with other officers when the first call about shots fired came in at about 11:50 a.m., he said, but it was unclear how serious the situation was. As details became available, they left, Betancourt driving the 60 miles to Uvalde alone and stopping for gas, he said.
Betancourt told agents he did not have a body camera or dash cam recording him, according to the sources. He said he spoke to Nolasco, the Uvalde sheriff, on the phone while driving and heard that a gunman had barricaded himself in the school with “an AK47,” the sources said.
Betancourt told investigators he arrived at about 12:45 p.m. and initially assumed that Nolasco was the commander on the scene as he was there outside the school.
Later, when he saw school district superintendent Arredondo inside after the gunman was killed and spoke with him, he told investigators that at the time he thought Arredondo was responsible. Arredondo was fired by the Uvalde school board in August and has argued that he should be reinstated.
Betancourt was asked if he spoke to anyone about the reasons for not entering the classrooms, and he said he did not, sources told CNN, recalling only that there was discussion of negotiation with the shooter.
He told investigators he gave the order to “stand by” based on information from Nolasco and believing there was a better SWAT team still headed to the school, sources said.
After the teenage gunman was killed by the BORTAC team, Betancourt said he focused on clearing the crime scene and setting up a command post. He told investigators how he used FaceTime to show his superiors the state of the school after the massacre, the sources with knowledge of the interviews said.
In an interview he attended, he said he didn’t know there were children in the building until after the break-in, he told CNN.
At least two officers said it was Bettencourt who alerted them to the ongoing attack at Robb Elementary, sources familiar with the investigation told CNN.
A sergeant said he received a text about an “active shooter” incident from Betancourt at about 11:37 a.m., raising questions about Betancourt’s claim that he only got involved later.
And Victor Escalon, the DPS regional director for the South Texas region that includes Uvalde, said Betancourt texted him at 12:09 p.m. This text read: “Initial information a person possibly a teacher shot in the head, a police officer shot, the child has an AK 47, CNU [specialist negotiator team] activated, the suspect is blocked. Soldiers who are doctors have been deployed. The drone team is on its way,” the sources said.
McCraw and other DPS leaders declined to discuss the internal investigations or release information until the investigations are complete at the request of District Attorney Christina Mitchell Busbee. Her criminal investigation could take years, and she has said she will charge anyone who committed a crime at Robb Elementary, including law enforcement officers.
CNN is joining a coalition of news organizations suing DPS over records related to the investigation, including the radio broadcasts and body camera footage referenced in this story, that have been withheld from the media and the public.
