Uvalde mayor says effort to reach gunman during school shooting failed

The mayor of Uvalde, Texas, on Wednesday said in an interview that an effort to reach the suspect who opened fire at an elementary school last week failed as officials seek to learn new details about the deadly shooting.

Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin (R) told The Washington Post and Telemundo San Antonio in an interview that a negotiator who was at a funeral home across from Robb Elementary School tried to contact the 18-year-old suspect.

While the gunman was inside the school, children contacted police for help, but McLaughlin said in his interview that he does not think the negotiator knew this at the time. Additional details about the identity of the negotiator were not immediately clear.

“His main goal was to try to get this person on the phone,” McLaughlin said. “They tried every number they could find,” adding that the person was unsuccessful.

The mayor’s remarks come as officials seek to learn new details about law enforcement’s response to the school shooting that left 19 children and two adults dead.

Authorities’ response to the school shooting has been criticized for the amount of time it took for officials to enter the school and engage and kill the suspect, which was over an hour after the gunman went into the school, according to The Associated Press. 

Officials have also offered conflicting statements on whether Uvalde school district Police Chief Pete Arredondo has been communicating with officials following the shooting, with an official from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) telling NBC News that a request for a follow-up interview had not been responded to by Arredondo.

Arredondo told CNN on Wednesday that he was communicating with DPS “daily.”