US Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said dozens of on-duty and off-duty Agents responded to shooting in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday, adding that soon when the officers arrived, “they did not hesitate.”
“We have responded to various locations. I had both on-duty, off-duty people who were in education environment everyone answered this location’ Ortiz said, adding that between 80 and 100 officers responded.
“They didn’t hesitate. They came up with plan. They entered this class and they took care of situation as quickly as possible,” Ortiz told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
Among those who answered were members of border patrol tactical unit, or BORTAC, which is a specialized unit made up of highly trained officers who respond to “unforeseen and risk incidents,” the agency said.
One agent was injured and has since been released from the hospital.
“I talked to my officers and, of course, I talked to the agent who was wounded yesterday. for scene like they saw and were witnesses yesterday,” Ortiz said.
The Border Guard will take part in investigation, given his involvement.
Earlier Wednesday, Chief Jason Owens, who leads the Del Rio sector for Border Patrol told CNN correspondent Mark Morales that the uniform of agents who reacted to the scene were “covered in blood.”
“I took my agents back to Uvalde station. i had to bring new a uniform for dress them up. It was a parody and a tragedy on low level people will never see and no one should should see,” Owens said, stressing that the response was a joint law enforcement effort.
US Customs and Border Protection has a large presence in Uvalde, which is about 60 miles from the Texas-Mexico border. Some agents have family members who attended school, according to Owens.
“I had agents who reacted to this scene with children. in there that they are not know were okay or not. We had a couple who were affected by it. And we had one agent who lost his granddaughter, we had others who lost extended family participants,” Owens said.
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