Some parents are furious, saying many of their children’s lives could have been saved. “Gunshot wounds in children must be treated immediately. Wait-and-watch won’t work,” says investigating war zone surgeon.
Ten days ago, on 24 May 2022, a lone, troubled teen named Salvador Rolando Ramos fatally shot nineteen young children and two of their teachers, also wounding seventeen other persons at the mostly Hispanic Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, United States, some 65 miles west of the Mexican border and an hour’s drive from San Antonio.
The Robb elementary school had commendable security measures and routinely drilled with local and State law enforcement.
But an eighteen-year-old teen killer entered an unlocked side door by which he bypassed all security ID checks, which were in place and functional at the time.
Some two dozen local police officers milled around in a crowd of worried parents, some of whom had been texted by their children about the horror unfolding. Cops were using force on some nearly hysterical mothers urging for police to help save their children. 911 Calls from children inside the school urgently requested police support, saying “there are only 8-9 children left alive” in one case, and “please send police” in at least six instances, according to Steven McCraw, director and colonel (?) of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
“Between 11:31 a.m. and 12:58 p.m. on 24 May at the Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, children with bullet wounds were beginning to accumulate on the floors of their classrooms as best as we can tell from the information from numerous sources,” said Dr. Nassima al Amouri, a medical Director for The RINJ Foundation, which operates women and children shelters and clinics in war zones.
Dr. Nassima al Amouri is a war zone trauma surgeon. She was asked last Tuesday by FPM.news to research the Uvalde, Texas matter and answer the question, “could children’s lives have been saved if first responders were able to stabilize and transport patients to the hospital more quickly?”
Monique Deslauriers, a nurse practitioner and executive director of The RINJ Foundation in the United States went from Calais, Maine to San Antonio Texas to begin an investigation, before going on to Uvalde, working with Dr. al Amouri and her staff.
“There were 39 gunshot victims in rooms 111 and 112 at the Robb elementary school.”
“Of the 38 persons suffering gunshot wounds by Mr. Ramos, 21 are deceased,” said Ms. Deslauriers in a preliminary update report.
“In my years of medical and surgical experience in Syria and Iraq wars, I have learned that right-angled, high-powered military rifle gunshot wounds on small children enter and exit the child’s body can cause potentially massive internal bleeding. Angular entry wounds are unpredictable, but often leave the bullet inside the body which may add complications,” added Dr. al Amouri in a preliminary response.
“With urgent care, death from many types of gunshot wounds in children can be prevented,” she added.
“Surgical treatment is indicated in all gunshot wounds without delay,” says war zone surgeon.
The picture and its story. Jacklyn Cazares is deceased along with her cousin Annabelle Rodriguez. Could surgeons have saved these children if these patients were transported an hour earlier? The first 911 call came in at 11:32. The shooter was dead at 1:00pm. “If the gunshot patient is alive in my O/R after 20 minutes since injury, I have a likely chance at preventing death,” says highly experienced trauma surgeon experienced with gunshot injuries.
If, given the chance in a reasonable time, could surgeons have saved Jacklyn Cazares, a gunshot victim at the Robb Elementary School on 24 May, 2022? The father of Jacklyn Cazares, 10, murdered in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday, May 24, has demanded a justification as to why the gunman was able to make it through the school for 90 minutes until he was shot dead even though the first 911 call came at 11:32 am, and yet Ramos was not shot until 1 pm Expert says “Immediate surgical treatment is indicated in all child gunshot cases.” Photo Credit: Facebook. Photo is cropped. Art/Cropping/Enhancement: Rosa Yamamoto / Feminine-Perspective Magazine
“Both trauma and loss of blood can lead to life-threatening shock in children, therefore the risk of rapid death is two-fold in general terms and the urgency for immediate stabilization and surgical intervention can be extreme. We have saved the lives of children under the most daunting of circumstances by sticking to the proper protocols and medical directives for fracture stabilization, vascular surgery, osteosyntheses, laparotomies, thoracotomies, etc. as they apply. I have even begun wound irrigation and surgical prep procedures in the back of an ambulance as we headed for my O/R. That’s the kind of urgency I am expressing. We had a day once when ISIS shot up a classroom of children not far from one of our small hospitals. I had some of the best surgical women doctors and nurses on my team and out of nine gunshot wounds we did not lose one child. And that includes fragmented round injuries and even deep wounds where debridement, fasciotomy, and constant post-surgery drainage are indicated. Not one death, thanks to God and my team. Gunshot wounds to children must be treated with nearly insane urgency. There is no cause for wait-and-see practice. Some of those kids required multiple surgeries, and some were on operating tables with a blood donor hooked up in a cot right beside them. That’s the kind of URGENCY these bully cops in Texas using force on scared parents need to learn [translated],” said Dr. al Amouri in a phone call.
“Which lives could have been saved? At least we could have a chance with those children who were still breathing after twenty minutes. This I know from many hundreds of case experiences. This is why I am so adamant on the urgency and universal protocol of ending conflict and transporting the gunshot cases and other injuries forthwith.”
“Looking specifically at likely cases laying on the floor of class 111 and 112, complications caused by trauma to an internal organ exacerbate the victim’s condition in varying degrees. I still insist that a live patient after being transported in 8 to 25 minutes
c a n b e s a v e d,” the surgeon emphasized.
“Immediate surgery is indicated in all gunshot cases particularly deep, center body gunshot wounds. Seconds, minutes, make a difference. I want the patient ready for total life support in an instant and then get to work on surgically resolving the traumas and then closing and administering ultra-critical care.
“At the scene, the bleeding must be stopped with intense pressure and the patient transported in an ambulance within five to eight minutes at the scene. If the patient is not attended by trained EMS crews, a gauze or cloth compress under heavy pressure on the wound, sufficient to stop the bleeding, is better than an improvised tourniquet. Transport the patient to a ready surgical resource.
“From the outset I must say that if this turns out to be unmitigated fact, police allowing the wounded child-victims to lay around for an hour or more, bleeding out, is reckless, irresponsible, negligent—a mass homicide by cops and other authorities.
“The closer I look,” said the doctor, “the closer anyone looks, a horrific mass murder is revealed, with law enforcement complicit in many needless deaths of small children.”
Timeline of events in the 24 May 2022 shooting deaths of 22 persons and the injury of 17 others.
| Sometime after 11:00 a.m. |
Salvador Rolando Ramos shoots Celia Martinez Gonzales (66), his grandmother in the face. She is transported to hospital and survives but faces many surgeries according to her granddaughter, Shelby Celeste Salazar.
This was after a 911 call had been made by Ramos’ grandmother after she was shot in the face by Ramos at her home where the shooter also lived with her and the grandfather, before he left headed to the Robb school.
Another call was made by someone who saw a crashed vehicle near the school and a person with a rifle going into the school.
|
| 11:28 a.m. |
Eighteen-year-old Salvador Rolando Ramos crashes Celia Martinez Gonzales’ (his grandmother) truck in a nearby ditch and exits the vehicle carrying an AR-15 assault weapon and spare rounds of ammunition. |
| 11:30 a.m. |
The first 911 call was placed by a schoolteacher who saw Ramos, while the U.S. Marshals Service received a call for assistance from an Uvalde police officer. The schoolteacher enters the school through a propped-open door and shuts the door, but the door does not lock itself, despite being designed to do so. |
| 11:31 a.m. |
Ramos, who is outside the school, begins shooting into classrooms. At the same time, a local patrol officer arrives. |
| 11:33 a.m. |
Ramos enters the school through the same side door and begins shooting in interconnected classrooms 111 and 112. |
| 11:35 a.m. |
Three police officers enter the school and approach the closed door to the classroom Ramos is in. He fires shots at the officers, grazing two of them. Four more officers enter the school. |
| 11:42 a.m. |
A schoolteacher reportedly texts an acquaintance that there was an active shooter on the school campus and asked for assistance. |
| 11:43 a.m. |
The school announces on Facebook a lockdown of the school “due to gunshots in the area”, saying that “students and staff are safe in the building.” |
| 11:44 a.m. |
Officers request more resources, equipment, body armour, and negotiators as a quasi-evacuation begins by police officers who rescued their own children by smashing windows and pulling the kids out of some classrooms not impacted by the shooter. They knew this was an active shooter situation say several sources including local officers. |
| 12:03 p.m. |
Nineteen law enforcement officers gather in the hallway to the classrooms but do not enter the classroom Ramos is in because the incident commander, Pete Arredondo, was treating the situation as one with a “barricaded subject” instead of an “active shooter”. Arredondo believed that no more lives were at risk, and he wanted more equipment and officers before conducting a tactical breach. |
| 12:03 p.m. |
A female student calls from classroom 112, identifying herself and the classroom number; after 1 minute and 23 seconds, she ends the call. She then called at 12:10, 12:13, 12:16, 12:19, 12:21, 12:36, 12:43, 12:46, 12:47, 12:50, 12:51, how many students were dead & alive, whisper-begged “please send the police now!” |
| 12:06 p.m. |
Anne Marie Espinoza, a spokeswoman for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, posts on the district’s Facebook page a statement saying that: “All campuses are under a Lockdown Status.
“Uvalde CISD Parents: Please know at this time all campuses are under a Lockdown Status due to gunshots in the area. The students and staff are safe in the buildings. The buildings are secure in a Lockdown Status. Your cooperation is needed at this time by not visiting the campus. As soon as the Lockdown Status is lifted you will be notified.”
“Thank you for your cooperation!” |
| 12:10 p.m. |
The first group of deputy U.S. Marshals arrives at the school to assist. The female student from classroom 112 calls 911 a second time. |
| 12:13 p.m. |
The female student from classroom 112 calls 911 a third time, reporting multiple people dead in the classroom. |
| 12:16 p.m. |
Some members of the Border Patrol Tactical Unit arrive at the school with tactical shields according to Texas Public Safety Director Steve McCraw. |
| 12:16 p.m. |
The female student from classroom 112 calls 911 for a fourth time, reporting that eight to nine students are still alive in the classroom. |
| 12:19 p.m. |
A female student from classroom 111 calls 911 but hangs up when another student tells her to end the call. |
| 12:21 p.m. |
Three shots are heard in a 911 call. Meanwhile, also at 12:21 p.m., Ramos fires his gun again and officers believe he’s at one of the doors of one of the adjoining classrooms, hence Police move down the hallway, Texas Public Safety Director Steve McCraw said. |
| 12:36 p.m. |
The female student from classroom 112 calls 911 for a fifth time, reporting that Ramos has shot a door. She is instructed to stay on the line and be very quiet, but the call disengaged after 21 seconds more. The child had said “He shot the door.” |
| 12:43 p.m. |
The female student from classroom 112 calls 911 and again asks the operator to send the police now. “When the cops came, a cop said loudly, ‘Yell if you need help!’ And one of the persons in my class said, ‘help’. The guy [Ramos] overheard and he [Ramos the gunman] came in and shot her,” a grade four male student has said to reporters. |
| 12:46 p.m. |
The female student from classroom 112 says she can “hear the police next door”. |
| 12:47 p.m. |
The female student from classroom 112 again asks the 911 operator to send the police immediately. |
| 12:50 p.m. |
Border Patrol officers use a janitorial master key to unlock the door Ramos, the teen shooter has locked, and the Border Patrol cops enter the classroom. Ramos, who is in a closet, kicks open the door and starts shooting. The officers open fire and kill him. |
| 12:58 p.m. |
Law enforcement radio chatter says Ramos has been killed and the siege is over, according to Victor Escalon, regional director for the Texas Department of Public Safety. |
| Since
24 May |
Robb Elementary School district’s law enforcement agency has not responded to interview requests with the Texas Rangers whose investigators are tasked with probing the police-response matter.
An unnamed local police officer told reporters, “some police officers’ families were trying to get their kids out of school because [they knew] it was an active shooter situation.”
Texas Senator Roland Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde, said the extreme delay in first responders’ actions more than likely raised the death toll to 21.
“I sat down with a parent, a set of ― a family yesterday,” Gutierrez said in an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union.”
The mother ″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,” he said. “In that span of 30 or 40 minutes extra, that little girl might have lived. That little girl might have lived.” |
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden with the principal of Robb Elementary, Mandy Gutierrez. Photo Credit: White House Official photograph.
Twenty seven of the 228 mass shootings in the USA in 2022 have been at schools.
Since the Uvalde mass shootings, there have been 18 new mass shootings to date, according to Chris Murphy, a USA Senator from Connecticut and a report in Newsweek.
“Six of the nine deadliest mass shootings in the United States since 2018 were by people who were 21 or younger, a shift from earlier decades,” according to a New York Times report.
“We see two clusters when it comes to mass shooters, people in their 40s who commit workplace type shootings, and a very big cluster of young people — 18, 19, 20, 21 — who seem to get caught up in the social contagion of killing,” said Jillian Peterson, a criminal justice professor who helped found the Violence Project, which maintains a comprehensive national database of mass shootings.” (Citing New York Times report.)