Ten-year-old trapped in Texas school shooting made 911 call 40 minutes before help arrived
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 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.
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
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
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.
There are 161 people still missing in Texas in the aftermath of last weekend’s deadly flash floods, the state’s governor has said.
Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, governor Gregg Abbot said the number of missing had risen markedly.
He said among the missing were five children and one counsellor from Camp Mystic – where at least 27 people were killed in the flash flooding.
At least 109 people are confirmed to have died in the floods, which took place on the 4 July weekend, but this figure has been steadily climbing ever since.
People comforted each other in Kerville. Pic: Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via AP
The bulk of deaths, and the main search for additional bodies, have been concentrated in Kerr County and the city of Kerrville.
The area was transformed into a disaster zone when torrential rains struck the region early last Friday, unleashing deadly flooding along the Guadalupe River.
Travis County, Kendall County, Burnett County, Williamson County, and Tom Green County were also hit.
Mr Abbot said many of those who were unaccounted for were in the Texas Hill Country area, but had not registered at a camp or hotel, posing further challenges for authorities.
Camp Mystic
Mr Abbot planned to make another visit to Camp Mystic.
The century-old all-girls Christian summer camp was badly hit by the flash floods, with at least 27 campers and counsellors dying.
Hanna Lawrence, left, and Rebecca Lawrence, right. Pic: John Lawrence/AP
Lila Bonner (L) and Eloise Peck both died in the flash floods at Camp Mystic, Texas. Pic: Family handout
Chloe Childress. Pic: Debra Alexander Photography via AP
Some of the victims include Hanna and Rebecca Lawrence, both eight, Chloe Childress, 19, who was among the counsellors at Camp Mystic when the flood hit, and Eloise Peck and Lila Bonner, both nine.
There were scenes of devastation at the camp as the flood water receded.
Outside the cabins where the girls had slept, mud-splattered blankets and pillows were scattered.
Also in the debris were pink, purple and light blue luggage, decorated with stickers.
A view inside a cabin at Camp Mystic after the flooding. Pic: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images
Camper’s belongings lie on the ground following flooding on the Guadalupe River, at Camp Mystic.
Pic: Reuters
‘Everything looked flooded and broken’
One of the campers, 10-year-old Lucy Kennedy, told Sky’s US partner network, NBC News, that she woke up to the sound of thunder at around midnight before the floods struck.
“I couldn’t go back to sleep,” she said. “I just had a feeling that something really bad was about to happen.”
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She said the girls at the camp were told to grab blankets, pillows and water bottles and line up single file as the floodwater rose, before getting airlifted to safety.
Wynne Kennedy, Lucy’s mother, added: “When I saw her, she was wrapped up in a blanket, had a teddy bear.
“We just held each other tight, and I held her all night.”
Their home in Kerrville was also destroyed by the flash floods.
Lucy Kennedy, 10 who was rescued from Camp Mystic, and her mother Wynne. Pic: NBC
Political row
Meanwhile, a political row has unfolded parallel to the recovery efforts, with some questioning whether local authorities sent out warnings and alerts early enough.
Similarly, Democrats have criticised Donald Trump over cuts his Elon Musk-launched Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has made to the National Weather Service – but it isn’t clear whether these actually made any difference.
Read more:
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Wall of water
The flash floods erupted before daybreak on Friday, after massive amounts of rainfall caused the Guadalupe River to rise by eight metres in less than an hour.
The wall of water overwhelmed cabins, tents and trails along the river’s edge.
Some survivors were found clinging to trees.
Some of the campers had to swim out of their cabin windows to get to safety, while others clung to rope to make it to higher ground.
The date for Sean “Diddy” Combs’s sentencing hearing has been confirmed.
Following his high-profile trial, the hip-hop mogul was found guilty of two counts of transportation for prostitution by jurors in Manhattan, New York, last week – but was cleared of sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.
Defence lawyers argued Combs, who has been in prison in Brooklyn since his arrest in September last year, should be bailed ahead of sentencing given the not guilty verdicts for the more serious charges, but Judge Arun Subramanian denied this – citing, among other things, the rapper’s own admissions of previous violent behaviour.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs in court after the verdict was delivered. Pic: Reuters/ Jane Rosenberg
The charges of sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy carried a potential life sentence. Combs still faces up to 20 years in prison for the prostitution-related offences, but is not expected to receive the maximum punishment.
After the verdict was delivered, the judge scheduled the sentencing hearing for 3 October. At a remote follow-up conference on Tuesday, with agreement from the defence and prosecution, the judge approved the date.
Combs joined the call but did not make any comment.
Any sentence will include credit for time already served – which will be just over a year by the time the hearing takes place.
During his trial, Combs was accused by prosecutors of abusing and coercing three alleged victims, including his former long-term partner, singer and model Cassie Ventura.
Jurors found the allegations did not amount to sex-trafficking or racketeering, or running a criminal enterprise – but they did find him guilty of transporting Cassie and another former girlfriend “Jane” for prostitution offences around the US, and paying male escorts to engage in sexual encounters.
Despite the guilty verdict on those charges, the 55-year-old’s team described it as “the victory of all victories”.
Read more:
How the trial unfolded
The rise and fall of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
In an interview over the weekend, defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo said Combs had received a standing ovation from fellow inmates when he returned to jail after being acquitted of the more serious charges.
“They all said, ‘We never get to see anyone who beats the government’,” he said.
Ahead of sentencing, Combs’s lawyers will file their recommendations by 19 September, with prosecutors likely to follow a week later.
Prosecutors previously said the rapper could face about four to five years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, while the defence has suggested a two-year sentence.
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