Since a shooter invaded Robb Elementary school in Uvalde in 2022 and killed 19 fourth-graders and two teachers, it’s been clear that law enforcement failed that day. What has not always been clear is how or why this could have happened, let alone how to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.
A new Justice Department report begins to answer some of those questions. While it doesn’t contain huge revelations, new details confirm that however bad you thought that day in Uvalde had been, it was far worse.
Unfortunately, the answers don’t provide relief or comfort; they only reinforce the notion that cowardice and chaos took over in law enforcement’s response.
The scathing federal report, nearly 600 pages, calls Uvalde a tragic example of “cascading failures of leadership, decision-making, tactics, policy and training.” Known as a Critical Incident Report, it’s based on reviews of more than 14,000 documents and 260 interviews. It covers law enforcement response, emergency services, and logistical and communication nightmares in the aftermath that have prohibited families from knowing what exactly happened to their child or providing them with any accountability.
Though several law enforcement officers arrived within minutes of the report of an active shooter at Robb Elementary, no one breached the classroom, despite the fact that halting immediate threats is typical active shooter response protocol.
“Officers on scene should have recognized the incident as an active shooter scenario and moved and pushed forward immediately and continuously toward the threat until the room was entered, and the threat was eliminated” the report says. The report found that no one “assumed a leadership role to direct the response toward the active shooter.” This created absolute mayhem and cost precious minutes.
Law enforcement officers have said that they simply didn’t know the shooter was still in a room full of children who needed aid, but the report found differently. It found that for more than an hour, there were instances of gunfire heard from the room, about 45 rounds. “Any one of these events should have driven the law enforcement response to take steps to immediately stop the killing,” the report says.
About 30 minutes after the shooter arrived, fourth-grader Khloie Torres made a 911 call from inside the classroom. Through whispers, she communicated that she and her fellow students were trapped with the shooter. Still, law enforcement waited 40 more minutes to breach the door.
After Border Patrol agents finally confronted the shooter, the former school Police Chief Pete Arredondo, whom the report identifies as the terrible de facto on-scene commander, delayed providing medical aid to wounded children in the classrooms, presuming they were all dead. In fact, 17 other children were wounded and survived.
Arredondo “intentionally prioritized the evacuations over immediate breach and entry into the room,” which is “counter to active shooter response principles, which state the priority is to address and eliminate the threat,” the report says. It’s likely some victims would have survived if officers had followed protocol.
Even the emergency response was a disaster. Emergency personnel were not allowed immediate access to the critically wounded children. Instead, the deceased were moved first. Some injured children were placed on school buses, rather than ambulances, and ushered to hospitals. In one case, a helicopter with medics was available to transport wounded but lack of communication ensured that an ambulance drove 15 minutes away to get a child on a life-flight to a hospital, according to the report.
The skewed timeline, misinformation, and lack of accountability has kept loved ones from having any closure. “Some have asked if their child was alone or near friends. Others want to know if their child would have lived had law enforcement entered the classroom earlier. Many victims and family members have reported that no one has taken accountability for what happened, no one has apologized, nor even acknowledged that the families deserve this information,” the report said.
This is gut-wrenching and beyond disrespectful to families who deserve a full and honest account of the events of that day and a genuine apology for the untold failures.
While the report didn’t recommend any punitive measures, it did state that training protocols on active shooter situations must be remedied or, where lacking entirely, instituted in the first place.
Hindsight is always 20/20 and it’s easier for people outside this tragedy to posit what should have been done. We understand that law enforcement brings constant challenges and situations that individuals may not ever feel they have fully prepared for.
However, there were hundreds of officers on site that day, dozens of whom arrived within minutes. Together they’ve received thousands of hours worth of training for responding to violence, yet many hadn’t received training for active shooter scenarios.
Even if the Legislature had passed a red flag law making it harder, or impossible, for the disturbed teen shooter to carry out such an act or barred people his age from buying semiautomatic rifles, there will always be evil people intent on doing violence. We rely on law enforcement to deter, halt or intervene when necessary.
If evil triumphs when a good man doing nothing, what does one call an event where hundreds of trained men, armed with weapons and tactical gear, did not respond? This report confirms that every person who arrived that day, save perhaps for the couple of men who breached the room, should be fired. They must be held accountable. Training must be increased and improved.
The loved ones of the people who died that day are owed this. Texans are owed this.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
