Members of the National Rifle Association (NRA), the main pro-firearms lobby in the United States, reaffirmed their confidence in their longtime leader Wayne LaPierre on Saturday, four days after the Uvalde shooting.
The association held its annual meeting in Houston, about 450 km from the shooting range that took place Tuesday at an elementary school in which an 18-year-old young man armed with an AR-15 type semi-automatic rifle killed 19 child and two teachers.
Even before the controversy associated with this massacre, the powerful lobby was shaken by cases targeting its leaders, accused of embezzling millions of dollars for personal purposes and to buy the silence of former employees.
At a show of hands on Saturday, a resolution supporting Wayne LaPierre’s past, present and future leadership was widely endorsed by nonprofit members, which have five million members. Only a few of the participants voted against the resolution.
Meanwhile in Uvalde, investigators are trying to pinpoint the mistakes made by the police and are specifically looking at why about 20 policemen remained for nearly an hour outside the room where the bewildered children were hoping for help.
This delay is at the heart of an investigation led by the Department of Public Security, which also questions the motive of the attack because the killer, Salvador Ramos, has no criminal record or known history of mental illness.
Call 911
At least two children dialed the 911 emergency number from two classrooms after the killer entered, Col. Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
She is in room 112whispered to a girl on the phone at 12:03 pm, more than 45 minutes before the intervention of a team from US Border Patrolwhich took place at 12:51 pm at this school in Uvalde, a town of 16,000 residents located west of San Antonio.
The same woman told the 911 operator Please send the font now at 12:43 pm, and another four minutes later.
According to Steven McCraw, the police commander at the scene felt Salvador Ramos was barricaded inside and the children were no longer in immediate danger, giving officers time to prepare for an attack.
In retrospect […] of course this is not the right decisionsaid Steven McCraw. It was a wrong decision, period.
Source: Radio-Canada
