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Disturbing reports have surfaced of a young girl’s call to police from inside the scene of the Uvalde school shooting – more than 40 minutes before officers arrived.

An exclusive CNN story says the 10-year old told the dispatcher: “I’m in classroom 112. Please hurry. There is a lot of dead bodies.”

Khloie Torres was trapped inside the Robb Elementary School in the Texas town on 24 May when high school dropout Salvador Ramos shot and killed 19 children and two teachers.

CNN says her call was made at 12.10pm that day. But it took 40 more minutes from Khloie giving details to authorities until a strike team burst into the room, challenging the gunman at 12:50pm.

She reportedly said during the call: “Please get help. I don’t wanna die. My teacher is dead. Oh, my God.”

Khloie, now 11, survived the attack.

Esmeralda Bravo, 63, sheds tears while holding a photo of her granddaughter, Nevaeh, one of the Robb Elementary School shooting victims, during a prayer vigil in Uvalde, Texas, May 25, 2022. The children who survived the attack, which killed 19 schoolchildren and two teachers, described a festive, end-of-the-school-year day that quickly turned to terror.(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
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Esmeralda Bravo lost her granddaughter in the shooting. Pic: Associated Press

Her call is revealed after numerous similar claims of slow and chaotic police response to one of the deadliest classroom attacks in US history.

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Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, admitted the response was an “abject failure” with “terrible decisions” made by the on-site commander.

There were enough armed police to stop the Uvalde gunman in three minutes after he entered the school, he said.

People gather at Robb Elementary School, the scene of a mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, U.S. May 25, 2022. REUTERS/Nuri Vallbona

Uvalde’s district police chief Pete Arredondo was sacked over the hesitant response.

Then, Uvalde’s Consolidated Independent School District suspended its entire police department over it.

The victims
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The victims

Parents outside the school as the massacre took place had pleaded with law enforcement to take decisive action to rescue their children – some of whom also made desperate calls to 911.

There was also a delay in entering the classroom while officers looked for a key. However, the door was not locked and there’s no evidence officers even checked, said the Texas public safety chief.

Maps reveal scale of gun violence in America

Children hold signs and photos of the Uvalde, Texas school shooting victims during a rally at Discovery Green Park, across the street from the National Rifle Association Annual Meeting held at the George R. Brown Convention Center Friday, May 27, 2022, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)
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A rally outside a National Rifle Association Annual Meeting held days after the massacre. Pic: Associated Press

An initial report into what happened revealed almost 400 law enforcement personnel were sent to the scene, but despite the huge response in terms of personnel, a “lackadaisical approach” and overarching sense of “chaos” among every agency who attended prevailed.

CNN heard Khloie’s 911 call, and others made by the same girl and classmates, whispering information and pleading for help.

Its report about it said: “It’s the call that should have ended any doubt or hesitation that the teenage gunman was active, roaming between the two connected classrooms, that children were trapped, injured and needed to be saved.”

Families of some of the 19 children killed on that day commemorated the Day of Dead on Tuesday with a rally, procession and decorated altar outside the Texas capitol building.

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RFK Jr announces US is scrapping $500m of vaccine projects

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RFK Jr announces US is scrapping 0m of vaccine projects

America’s vaccine-sceptic health secretary has announced $500m (£375.8m) worth of cuts to their development in the country.

The US health department is cancelling contracts and pulling funding for jabs to fight viruses like COVID-19 and the flu, it was announced on Tuesday.

Robert F Kennedy Jr, known as RFK Jr, said 22 projects developing mRNA vaccines will be halted. It is the latest in a series of decisions to reduce US vaccine programmes.

Read more: Who is Donald Trump’s health chief?

The health secretary has fired the panel that makes vaccine recommendations, reduced recommendations for COVID-19 shots, and refused to endorse vaccines despite a worsening measles outbreak.

RFK Jr claims the US will now prioritise “safer, broader vaccine strategies, like whole-virus vaccines and novel platforms that don’t collapse when viruses mutate”.

Responding to the announcement of cuts, Mike Osterholm, a University of Minnesota expert on infectious diseases and pandemic preparations, said: “I don’t think I’ve seen a more dangerous decision in public health in my 50 years in the business.”

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Is US politics fuelling a deadly measles outbreak?

Dr Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said RFK Jr’s move was short-sighted and that mRNA vaccines “certainly saved millions of lives”, including during the pandemic.

MRNA vaccines work by delivering a snippet of genetic code into the body that triggers an immune response, rather than introducing a real version of the virus.

According to the UK Health Security Agency, the “leading advantage of mRNA vaccines is that they can be designed and produced more quickly than traditional vaccines”.

Moderna, which was studying a combo mRNA shot that can tackle COVID and flu for the US health department, previously said it believed mRNA could speed up production of flu jabs compared with traditional vaccines.

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The Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in a syringe before being administered to a
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A COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic. File pic: PA

Scientists are also exploring how mRNA could be used in cancer immunotherapies and in other illnesses.

At the White House earlier this year, billionaire tech entrepreneur Larry Ellison praised mRNA for its potential to treat cancer.

RFK Jr touts ‘effective’ alternative

The health department said the abandoned mRNA projects signal a “shift in vaccine development priorities.”

“Let me be absolutely clear, HHS supports safe, effective vaccines for every American who wants them,” Mr Kennedy said in a statement.

Later, he said work is underway on an alternative – a “universal vaccine” that mimics “natural immunity”.

“It could be effective – we believe it’s going to be effective – against not only coronaviruses, but also flu,” he said.

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Bill and Hillary Clinton subpoenaed in Jeffrey Epstein probe

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Bill and Hillary Clinton subpoenaed in Jeffrey Epstein probe

The US House Oversight Committee has issued subpoenas for depositions with former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton relating to the sex trafficking investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

The Republican-controlled committee also subpoenaed the Justice Department for files relating to the paedophile financier, as well as eight former top law enforcement officials.

Donald Trump has denied prior knowledge of Epstein‘s crimes, claiming he ended their relationship a long time ago.

Trump and Epstein at a party together in 1992. Pic: NBC News
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Mr Trump and Mr Epstein at a party together in 1992. Pic: NBC News

The US president has repeatedly tried to draw a line under the Justice Department’s decision not to release a full accounting of the investigation, but politicians from both major political parties, as well as many in Mr Trump’s political base, have refused to drop their interest in the Epstein files.

Epstein died in a New York jail cell in 2019 awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, and since then, conspiracy theories have swirled about what information investigators gathered on him and who else may have been involved in his crimes.

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee initiated the subpoenas for the Clintons last month, as well as demanding all communications between former president Joe Biden’s Democrat administration and the Justice Department about Epstein.

The committee previously issued a subpoena for an interview with Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who had been serving a prison sentence in Florida for luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. She was recently transferred to another facility in Texas.

Mr Clinton was among those acquainted with Epstein before the criminal investigation against him in Florida became public two decades ago. He has never been accused of wrongdoing by any of the women who say Epstein abused them.

Mr Clinton previously said, through a spokesperson, that while he travelled on Epstein’s jet, he never visited his homes and had no knowledge of his crimes.

Read more:
All we know about Trump and Epstein’s ‘friendship’

This is a rare escalation

The subpoenaing of former president Bill Clinton is an escalation, both legally and politically.

Historically, it is rare for congressional oversight to demand deposition from former presidents of the United States.

Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend and accomplice, had already been summonsed.

But the House Oversight Committee has now added Bill and Hillary Clinton, several former Attorneys General and former FBI directors to its list.

It signals bipartisan momentum – Democrats voting with Republicans for transparency.

The committee will now hear from several people with known ties to Epstein, his connection with Bill Clinton having been well-documented.

But the subpoenas set up a potential clash between Congress and the Department of Justice.

Donald Trump, the candidate, had vowed to release them. A government led by Mr Trump, the president, chose not to.

If Attorney General Pam Bondi still refuses to release the files, it will fuel claims of a constitutional crisis in the United States.

But another day of Epstein headlines demonstrates the enduring public interest in this case.

The subpoenas give the Justice Department until 19 August to hand over the requested records.

The committee is also asking the former officials to appear for depositions throughout August, September and October, concluding with Hillary Clinton on 9 October and Bill Clinton on 14 October.

Although several former presidents, including Mr Trump, have been issued congressional subpoenas, none has ever appeared before members under compulsion.

Last month, Mr Trump instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to release information presented to the grand jury that indicted Maxwell for helping Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls.

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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs ‘seeks pardon from Trump’

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Sean 'Diddy' Combs 'seeks pardon from Trump'

Sean “Diddy” Combs has been in contact with Donald Trump about a pardon, a source close to the rapper’s legal team has told Sky News’ US partner network NBC News.

A White House spokesperson said it “will not comment on the existence or nonexistence of any clemency request”.

On Tuesday, the rapper was denied bail ahead of his sentencing in October, when he could face up to 20 years in prison after he was convicted of prostitution-related offences.

The sentence will likely be much shorter than that, however.

In July, he was found guilty of two counts of transportation for prostitution – but cleared of more serious charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking, which carried potential life sentences.

During an interview with news channel Newsmax last Friday, Mr Trump said “they have talked to me about Sean” but did not announce any decision.

Read more:
How the trial unfolded
The rise and fall of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs

Sean "Diddy" Combs reacts after verdicts are read of the five counts against him, during Combs' sex trafficking trial in New York City, New
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Combs reacts after the verdicts are read out in court. File pic: Reuters

The president seemed to cast doubt that he would grant a pardon, however.

“You know, I was very friendly with him. I got along with him great. And seemed like a nice guy, I didn’t know him well,” Trump said. “But when I ran for office, he was very hostile.”

“I don’t know,” Trump said. “It makes it more – I’m being honest, it makes it more difficult to do.”

Trump was then asked, “more likely a ‘no’ for Combs?”

Trump responded: “I would say so.”

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How the Diddy trial unfolded

Combs, who co-founded Bad Boy Records and launched the career of the late Notorious BIG, was for decades a huge figure in pop culture, as well as a Grammy-winning hip-hop artist and business entrepreneur, who presided over an empire ranging from fashion to reality TV.

Now, as well as the criminal conviction, he is also facing several civil lawsuits.

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