Child 'likely bled out' as first responders failed to act during Uvalde massacre: state senator

In Texas, State Sen. Roland Gutierrez represents the Uvalde area — where, on Tuesday, May 24, a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School left 19 children and two teachers dead. Gutierrez is speaking out about the first responders’ actions that day, and the Democratic state senator believes that a delay made the death count higher than it had to be.

During an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday, May 29, Gutierrez explained, “I sat down with a parent, a set of ― a family yesterday. (The) mom told me that her child had been shot by one bullet through the back, through the kidney area. The first responder that they eventually talked to said that their child likely bled out. In that span of 30 or 40 minutes extra, that little girl might have lived. That little girl might have lived.”

HuffPost’s Nina Golgowski notes that “questions have continued to grow about why law enforcement took so long to engage with the gunman” on May 24, when, she adds, he “was locked in a classroom with his victims for over an hour before he was finally taken out by Border Patrol tactical officers.”

Gutierrez told Bash, “Dana, the whole thing is a shame. I’m disgusted by all of it…. At the end of the day, the protocols were breached. The active shooter protocols dictate that you go in…. So many things went wrong here.”

Gutierrez added, “I’m asking a lot of questions. I am told that I’m going to be getting a ballistics report, along with many other issues that need to be addressed.”

During the interview, Gutierrez also discussed the gun control measures he favors— which include better background checks and raising the age for legally purchasing a firearm.

Gutierrez told Bash, “We must have change. I have spent time with many of these families and this is just heartbreaking. I just cannot do this anymore. It is heartbreaking. No family should go through what these people are going through.”