Top Texas law enforcement official says 'wrong decision' to wait to get mass shooter inside school

A top Texas Department of Public Safety official on Friday acknowledged that officers waiting to go into an elementary school earlier this week to stop the mass shooter who had barricaded himself inside was "the wrong decision."

The acknowledgement was made by the agency's Col. Steven McCraw when taking questions during a press conference updating the situation.

He said the incident commander's "thought process" was " 'This was a barricaded subject situation.' "

Craw continued: "Where I'm sitting now, of course it was not the right decision. It was the wrong decision, period. There's no excuse for that. But again, I wasn't there." 

He also said the the school district's chief of police was the commander.

Nineteen students and two teachers were fatally shot at the Ross Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

Law enforcement reportedly waited 40 to 60 minutes before going into the school and fatally shooting the gunman. A team of U.S. Border Patrol agents killed the shooter, according to the Associated Press.