Uvalde police criticized by Texas lawmakers over their school shooting response

Texas state lawmakers presented their findings to the victims' relatives [Brandon Bell/Getty-file photo]

On Sunday, Texas state legislators criticized law enforcement's poor response to the killing in Uvalde, where a shooter killed 19 students and two instructors, arguing that swifter action could have saved lives.

Three hundred seventy-six policemen, including border guards, state police, city police, local sheriff departments, and elite forces, reacted to the May 24 slaughter at Robb Elementary School, according to a preliminary report from the House of Representatives of a southern U.S. state.

The MPs, however, argued that the scenario was "chaotic" due to the officers' "lackadaisical approach" to subduing the gunman.

Seventy-three minutes passed between the arrival of the first officers and the shooter's killing, an "unacceptably long period of time."

According to the research, the lack of leadership may have led to the loss of life.

While the investigation stated that most victims likely died quickly after the initial shots were fired, a few died after transport to the hospital.

It is conceivable that some victims could have lived had they not had to wait an extra 73 minutes for rescue, according to the investigation.

According to the text, which does not accuse individual police teams more than others, law enforcement officials "failed to adhere to their active shooter training, and they failed to prioritize saving the lives of innocent victims over their safety."

Steve McCraw, the Texas chief of public safety, has previously called the police reaction to the attack an "abject failure," directing most of his criticism at Pete Arredondo, the chief of police for the Uvalde school district.

The Texas lawmakers stated that Arredondo, suspended awaiting the probe's outcome, "did not assume his preassigned responsibility of incident command" and made analytical errors because he lacked all the essential facts.

According to the complaint, no other cops attempted to assist or replace him.

"There was a general lethargic attitude among law enforcement personnel at the site.

"The scene was chaotic, without any person obviously in charge or directing the law enforcement response."

The legislators presented their findings to the relatives of the victims, who criticized the authorities' lack of transparency over the incident for weeks and accused them of attempting to conceal police shortcomings in the case.

The publication of surveillance camera footage obtained by local media increased public condemnation of Texas officials last week.

The tape depicts the shooter entering Robb Elementary School with a semiautomatic rifle and the cops' lengthy wait in the hallway before penetrating the classroom where the gunman was barricaded.

Publish : 2022-07-18 08:30:00

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