How the Texas School Shooting Unfolded in 78 Minutes: A Timeline - Th…
8-10 minutes 4/30/2024
When families learned that a gunman had entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, at 11:33 a.m. on May 24, a brutal wait began. Police on the scene did not stop the gunman until well over an hour after he walked into the school, raising questions about whether lives could have been saved if they had acted sooner. Parents who rushed to the school were held outside, where many were forced to wait to learn if their children were safe.
What follows is an account of each of those 78 minutes, as told by video evidence, statements by witnesses and law enforcement, and accounts of 911 calls.
Source: Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images
11:33 a.m.
The gunman enters the school.
He uses a back door that had been propped open by a teacher six minutes earlier. (The door is closed, but not locked, by the time the gunman enters, law enforcement officials clarified on June 1.)
He walks down a hallway, banging and kicking on at least one locked door before moving toward two connected classrooms, 111 and 112.
Two teachers, Eva Mireles and Irma Garcia, had been screening the movie “Lilo & Stitch” for fourth graders in the classrooms.
The gunman would fire more than 100 rounds.
11:35 a.m.
Three Uvalde Police Department officers enter the school through the same door. Two are grazed by shots fired by the gunman.
Four more officers soon enter the building.
11:37 a.m.
More gunshots. Another 16 rounds are fired.
Officers continue to arrive on the scene.
11:38 a.m.
5 minutes since gunman entered school
11:39 a.m.
6 minutes since gunman entered school
11:40 a.m.
7 minutes since gunman entered school
11:41 a.m.
8 minutes since gunman entered school
11:42 a.m.
9 minutes since gunman entered school
11:43 a.m.
The school posts on Facebook that the school is under lockdown, and then emails parents.
Source: Uvalde CISD Robb Elementary Facebook page
11:44 a.m.
11 minutes since gunman entered school
11:45 a.m.
12 minutes since gunman entered school
11:46 a.m.
13 minutes since gunman entered school
11:47 a.m.
14 minutes since gunman entered school
11:48 a.m.
15 minutes since gunman entered school
11:49 a.m.
16 minutes since gunman entered school
11:50 a.m.
17 minutes since gunman entered school
11:51 a.m.
18 minutes since gunman entered school
11:52 a.m.
19 minutes since gunman entered school
11:53 a.m.
20 minutes since gunman entered school
11:54 a.m.
People are gathering outside the school. Tension is building between parents and police.
11:55 a.m.
22 minutes since gunman entered school
11:56 a.m.
“Our kids, that’s what we’re worried about,” one mother can be heard saying on a livestreamed video. She adds, “Our kids are there, man! My son’s right there!”
11:57 a.m.
24 minutes since gunman entered school
11:58 a.m.
A police officer pushes a man who is making a phone call outside the school, yelling at the people gathering to move across the street. “Six-year-old kids in there, they don’t know how to defend themselves from a shooter!” yells one person.
11:59 a.m.
26 minutes since gunman entered school
12:00 p.m.
27 minutes since gunman entered school
12:01 p.m.
28 minutes since gunman entered school
12:02 p.m.
29 minutes since gunman entered school
12:03 p.m.
It has been 30 minutes since the gunman entered.
As many as 19 officers are in the school hallway.
A student calls 911 and whispers that she is in room 112.
The call lasts one minute and 23 seconds.
12:04 p.m.
31 minutes since gunman entered school
12:05 p.m.
Some students and staff members who had been locked down in the cafeteria on the other side of the school are able to flee.
12:06 p.m.
Some students in another classroom escape through a window.
Source: Pete Luna/Uvalde Leader-News/Handout via Reuters
12:07 p.m.
34 minutes since gunman entered school
12:08 p.m.
35 minutes since gunman entered school
12:09 p.m.
A helicopter is flying above the school, and people are gathering on the streets nearby.
Source: Storyful
12:10 p.m.
The same student calls 911 again and says multiple people are dead.
12:11 p.m.
A police officer with a megaphone announces to the crowd outside that “When the kids get moved, we’re going to move them to the back of the funeral home,” referring to Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home across the street. “That’s where we want y’all waiting at,” he says.
Source: Storyful
12:12 p.m.
39 minutes since gunman entered school
12:13 p.m.
The same student calls 911 for the third time.
12:14 p.m.
41 minutes since gunman entered school
12:15 p.m.
Members of the Border Patrol Tactical Unit arrive with shields.
12:16 p.m.
The same student calls 911 again and says that eight to nine students are still alive.
12:17 p.m.
The school district posts on Facebook that there is an active shooter at the school and asks people to stay away.
Source: Robb Elementary School Facebook page
12:18 p.m.
45 minutes since gunman entered school
12:19 p.m.
A different girl, in room 111, calls 911. She hangs up when another student tells her to.
12:20 p.m.
47 minutes since gunman entered school
12:21 p.m.
Police hear the gunman fire again. They move down the hallway.
Three shots are later heard over a 911 call.
12:22 p.m.
49 minutes since gunman entered school
12:23 p.m.
50 minutes since gunman entered school
12:24 p.m.
51 minutes since gunman entered school
12:25 p.m.
52 minutes since gunman entered school
12:26 p.m.
Many students are seen walking out of the school on the other side in a livestreamed video. The man recording recognizes one of the children. “Tell your mom hi. Tell her you’re OK,” he says.
12:27 p.m.
54 minutes since gunman entered school
12:28 p.m.
55 minutes since gunman entered school
12:29 p.m.
56 minutes since gunman entered school
12:30 p.m.
The school district posts on Facebook that students who made it out of the school are being taken to an auditorium at the high school on the other side of town.
Source: Robb Elementary School Facebook page
12:31 p.m.
58 minutes since gunman entered school
12:32 p.m.
59 minutes since gunman entered school
12:33 p.m.
60 minutes since gunman entered school
12:34 p.m.
61 minutes since gunman entered school
12:35 p.m.
It’s now been one hour since police entered the building.
12:36 p.m.
The first student calls 911 again.
She is told to stay on the line and stay quiet.
The student tells 911 that the gunman shot the door.
12:37 p.m.
64 minutes since gunman entered school
12:38 p.m.
65 minutes since gunman entered school
12:39 p.m.
66 minutes since gunman entered school
12:40 p.m.
The school district edits its post on Facebook to say that the students are being taken to a civic center downtown instead of the high school to reunite with their guardians.
Source: Robb Elementary School Facebook page
12:41 p.m.
People continue to gather up and down the two roads that lead to school entrances.
12:42 p.m.
An officer carrying a shield is seen running toward the building.
12:43 p.m.
The student on the line asks 911 to please send the police now.
12:44 p.m.
71 minutes since gunman entered school
12:45 p.m.
A man is filming the scene from outside of the school. “I’ve seen like 20 parents, maybe more, crying,” he says. “Wanting to know what’s happening to their kids. Because there’s still kids in there. And then, parents see that there’s ambulances taking the beds in.”
12:46 p.m.
The student on the phone with 911 says she can hear the police next door.
12:47 p.m.
The student again asks 911 to please send the police now.
12:48 p.m.
75 minutes since gunman entered school
12:49 p.m.
76 minutes since gunman entered school
12:50 p.m.
Specially trained Border Patrol officers unlock and open a classroom door using a master key given to them by a janitor.
They enter the classroom and fire 27 times, killing the gunman.
Shots are heard over the 911 call.
12:51 p.m.
The girl in room 112 is still on the phone with 911. Officers can be heard moving children out of the classroom, including her. When the call ends, she is outside.
The crowd of parents surges forward as kids are carried and escorted out. A man yells out “That’s my daughter!” as a police officer runs carrying a girl dressed in pink.
The toll — 19 students and two teachers dead, and more than a dozen others wounded — would not be released until many hours later.