AUSTIN (Texas aEUR”) Friday’s dispute of a report that claims there were missed opportunities to end the massacre at an elementary school in Texas. This is yet another example of the lack of clear answers regarding the slow response of law enforcement to one of America’s most tragic classroom shootings.
Mayor Don McLaughlin stated that no Uvalde officer saw the gunman at Robb Elementary School and that they did not have the opportunity to fire on him. Tactical response experts from Texas State University released a critique this week of law enforcement’s decision-making.
The public’s rejection of the report and the differing accounts show that six weeks after the shooting, there are still questions about why and how police with bulletproof shields and rifles waited over an hour to confront the gunman in a fourth grade classroom, where 21 people, including 19 children, were killed.
It also increased tension between Uvalde officials, the state, and particularly the Texas Department of Public Safety. They had troopers on scene and have attributed much of the blame to local school district chief police chief. DPS requested the new report. The findings were very similar to those that state police officers have previously shared publicly.
McLaughlin stated in a statement that “there were dozens DPS troopers on-site at the time of the breach inside the classroom.”
Representatives of Department of Public Safety didn’t immediately respond to inquiries for comment.
McLaughlin has slammed the agency before. McLaughlin has accused DPS of giving a partial and incomplete account while claiming that local officials were instructed not to divulge any information during the ongoing investigation.
Col. Steve McCraw is the head of DPS and has largely attributed the inaction of law enforcement to Uvalde School District Chief Pete Arredondo. He described him as the incident commander during this shooting.
According to the Texas Tribune, Arredondo said that he didn’t believe he was responsible for the scene. Since the shooting, he has been quiet and resigned from his position as City Councilor.
This week’s report was prepared by the university’s Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Program. The 26-page report’s authors claimed that DPS contacted them shortly after the shooting to evaluate the law enforcement response. They also said that they received a briefing lasting approximately an hour from an unidentified “investigating officer”.
One of the most striking aspects of the report was the way a Uvalde officer with a rifle watched the gunman as he walked towards campus, but didn’t fire while waiting for permission from the supervisor. According to the report, the supervisor “either didn’t hear or responded too late.”
McLaughlin stated that no Uvalde officer was allowed to shoot the gunman prior to entering the school. He also said that an officer saw someone outside but could not identify the person.
McLaughlin stated, “Ultimately, it wasn’t the shooter, but the coach with the children.”
Pete Blair, executive director of the training centre that published the report did not respond to Friday’s email.
Texas legislators are currently compiling a separate report on the shooting. They have spent several weeks interviewing over 20 witnesses and first responders behind closed door doors. After lawmakers wrote him this week, they are expecting to hear from the Uvalde County Sheriff on Monday.
