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Texas school gunman 'walked in unobstructed'

A gunman who attacked a primary school in Texas on Tuesday was able to enter the building unobstructed, police say.

Texas Ranger Victor Escalon said no armed guard challenged the teenage attacker and it is unclear if the school door was even locked.

Mr Escalon defended the police response amid mounting criticism of an apparent delay in confronting the gunman.

Reports quoted witnesses saying police were hesitant to confront the killer inside Uvalde's Robb Elementary School.

Mr Escalon said at Thursday's press conference that initial reports the gunman had shot a guard were incorrect.

He said officers entered the school four minutes after the gunman went in at about 11:40.

"They [didn't] make entry immediately because of the gunfire they were receiving," Mr Escalon told reporters.

But an hour lapsed before the gunman was killed in a shootout at 12:45 only after US Border Patrol tactical teams arrived.

The attacker shot dead 19 students and two teachers, and injured at least 17 more people.

Videos have emerged of police being urged by onlookers and desperate family members to storm the building immediately.

A father whose daughter died in the attack told the Associated Press news agency he had considered running into the school with bystanders out of frustration at the police response.

One mother that she was briefly handcuffed, accused of impeding a police investigation, after demanding along with other parents that officers storm the building. Angeli Rose Gomez said she saw one frantic father thrown to the ground by an officer, another father pepper-sprayed and a third who was later tased.

"The police were doing nothing," said Ms Gomez, who was eventually released before she said she jumped over the school fence and ran inside to rescue her two children. "They [the police] were just standing outside the fence. They weren't going in there or running anywhere."

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Texas school gunman 'walked in unobstructed'

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