UVALDE, Texas (AP) — The commander at the scene of a school shooting in Texas was not informed of panicked 911 calls coming from inside the school building, a Texas state senator said Thursday.

Sen. Roland Gutierrez said the pleas for help from people inside Robb Elementary as the shooting was taking place May 24 did not make their way to school district police Chief Pete Arredondo. The Democratic senator called it a “system failure” that calls were going to the city police but were not communicated to Arredondo.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said last week that police didn’t breach the classroom where the gunman was holed up faster because Arredondo believed the situation had morphed from an active shooting to a hostage situation.

Nineteen children and two teachers died in the attack at Robb Elementary School, the deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade.

More on the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/uvalde-school-shooting