UVALDE, Texas — A Uvalde police officer's bodycam video provides a look at the earliest part of law enforcement's response to the shooting rampage at Robb Elementary School, including the moment when the officer was struck and injured by shrapnel after being fired upon.
"Am I bleeding?" Officer Canales asked another member of law enforcement moments after he drew fire and had to retreat back down the school hallway. He then moved to the outside door, wiped his face and found blood on his hand.
"He's shooting in the classroom!" he told another officer who had arrived.
"He's in the class," he told another officer. "Dude, we gotta get in there. We gotta get in there, he keeps shooting. We gotta get in there."
The bodycam video was released by the City of Uvalde on Sunday after a Texas House panel announced the results of its fact-finding report on the Uvalde school shooting, which killed 19 students and two teachers.
After assessing his own condition outside the school, Canales then made a call on his phone, presumably to another law enforcement member.
"I need help. We got shots fired in the school, bro. Guy's inside the classroom right now. I'm ---ing bleeding from my ear," Canales said. "Guy's ---ing shooting, he's in a classroom. He's actually shooting. Robb School. Just giving y'all a heads-up, maybe y'all could... the more help, the better, you know?"
A later portion of bodycam video showed Canales back in the hallway, this time with significantly more law enforcement, who were discussing how to proceed.
The Texas House committee's report found that it took 77 minutes from first response before the door of the classroom was breached and law enforcement shot and killed the gunman.
Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin said Sunday that he was releasing the police bodycam videos because "the entire Uvalde community has already waited entirely too long for answers and transparency."
He also said that the videos supplement the scenes in the school district's hallway video. "We believe these body camera videos provide further, necessary context."