Uvalde funeral attendant told to stay back after trying to confront school shooter

A funeral worker and attendant who was prepared to charge the gunman who opened fire inside Robb Elementary School last month, killing 19 children and two teachers, said he was told by police to stay back and not engage the shooter.

Cody Briseno told NBC News in an exclusive interview that he saw the gunman crash his truck in front of the school on May 24 before hopping out with a rifle. Briseno backed up after seeing an “evil look” from the shooter, who opened fire at him and a co-worker.

The pair fled back inside Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home across the street. There, behind a locked door, Briseno called his wife, who brought him a firearm.

Briseno said was prepared to confront the shooter, but by that time, police had gathered outside the school and ordered him not to engage the gunman.

Briseno recalls telling the officers outside: “I’m going to go in and try to stop them.” But he was met with resistance from an officer, who he did not identify to NBC News, that told him to stay back and shut up.

The police response to the school shooting has been met with intense scrutiny after videos showed parents outside the school arguing with police to let them in to save their children. Police did not enter the classroom where they said the shooter had barricaded himself for more than an hour after it began, calling into question whether proper police protocol was followed.

The director of the Texas Department of Public Safety has said the delayed response by police was the “wrong decision.”

Pete Arredondo, the police chief for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District who is reportedly in hiding and is no longer answering calls about an investigation into the police response, is said to be the officer who made the call to wait for backup, believing the gunman was a barricaded suspect.

Briseno told NBC News he helped bury several of the children — including his cousin — who were killed in the massacre. When he helped lower their caskets into the ground, he wondered if there was more he could have done to prevent it.

“It always plays in my head,” he said.

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