During a heated news conference Friday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he was “misled” by police on the response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School earlier this week, The Texas Tribune reported.
“I am livid about what happened,” the governor told reporters as he skipped the National Rifle Association convention in Houston. “The information I was given turned out, in part, to be inaccurate, and I am absolutely livid about that.”
Abbott’s comments are in sharp contrast to his first news conference after the shooting on Wednesday, where he applauded the department for “amazing courage” in neutralizing 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, who killed 19 children and two teachers a day before.
“It could have been worse. The reason it was not worse is because law enforcement officials did what they do,” he said at the time.
However, Abbott’s change in tune came amid new information that police made the “wrong decision” by failing to storm the school, Texas Department of Public Safety director Steven McCraw said earlier on Friday.
“From the benefit of hindsight where I’m sitting now, of course, it was not the right decision. It was a wrong decision. Period. There was no excuse for that,” McCraw admitted, according to NBC News.
“If I thought it would help, I would apologize,” he said, adding that officers incorrectly believed it was no longer an “active shooter” situation.
Via Newsmax