- The Uvalde schools police chief said he tried over 26 keys to access the room where the gunman was.
- None of them worked, he said, and eventually another officer found the right key.
- His lawyer said the school’s key system was kept on a ring “that’s got to weigh 10 pounds.”
The officer leading the police response to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, said he tried using dozens of keys to open a barricaded door and reach the gunman, but failed because none of them worked.
Uvalde schools district police Chief Pete Arredondo told the Texas Tribune that he had called for the keys and a tool to break down the door, which he couldn’t kick down because it was reinforced.
While the breaching tool never came, the keys did, per the Tribune. Arredondo said he was given a set of six keys by a janitor, and tried each one fruitlessly on the door of a room connected to where the gunman was.
Another key ring with about 20 to 30 keys was later brought to him, and he tried all of them one by one, he said, giving a total of at least 26 attempts.
h/t 4doggies