(UnitedVoice.com) – The 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, was the worst school attack since Sandy Hook in 2012, where 20 kids and six school employees died. Unlike the Connecticut shooting, where State Police immediately entered the building and found the shooter within 15 minutes, dozens of officers waited more than 75 minutes in Texas. The Department of Justice has now released a scathing report about the failures of law enforcement that led to the deaths of 19 kids and two teachers at Robb Elementary.
On January 18, the Department of Justice released the report of the Uvalde shooting. Attorney General Merrick Garland gave a statement about the findings, slamming the law enforcement response, saying, “The victims and survivors […] deserved better.” The AG told the public that the “consequence of failed leadership, training, and policies” was that three teachers and 33 students were trapped with the shooter for more than an hour. During that time, many of those in the room were bleeding from gunshot wounds. Meanwhile, law enforcement waited outside of the classrooms.
According to the official timeline, 11 law enforcement officers were on the scene within 3 minutes of the suspect entering the building. Nationwide police protocol in the wake of the 1999 Columbine shooting was that those officers should have entered and eliminated the threat. Instead, they retreated when a couple of them were hit by shrapnel.
Pete Arredondo, the police chief of Uvalde’s schools, was on the scene within moments and became the official in charge. He did not have any radio on him and could only communicate with his cell phone. He didn’t order officers to breach the classrooms where the kids were trapped even though 911 received multiple phone calls from inside the rooms from victims.
Seventy-seven minutes after the shooting started, a team of Border Patrol agents breached the room and killed the shooter. The report states that occurred after “45 rounds were fired by the shooter in the presence of officers.”
Families of the victims held a press conference and responded to the report.
Those families are demanding law enforcement officers face charges for their failures that day.
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