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| Photo Credit: AP. |
An internal email from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Director Steven McCraw reveals that all law enforcement entities failed in their responses to Robb Elementary Scholl, Uvalde, Texas, scene of a mass shooting incident, Newsweek reports. The mass shooting claimed the lives of 19 pupils and two of their teachers.
McCraw wrote
in email to his staff on July 20 that the law enforcement response to the
active shooter attack was an “abject failure”, Newsweek cited a report by
WOAI-TV.
"Every
agency that responded that day shares in this failure, including DPS,"
McCraw said. "Although I remain highly critical of the decision to treat
the incident as a barricaded subject by the ranking Consolidated Independent
School District police official at the scene, DPS and other agencies must also
be held accountable for their actions or inactions."
Former
Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (UCISD) Police Chief Pete
Arredondo treated the situation as a barricade subject rather than an active
shooter, reports show, according to Newsweek.
That
decision was the major reason why law enforcement responses were a failure. The
UCISD voted unanimously to fire Arredondo in August and was also forced to
resign from his City Council seat, Newsweek reported.
Advanced Law
Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Center released an assessment in
early July that found seven officers were walking toward the classroom when the
gunman started firing, Newsweek cited a report by WOAI-TV. Instead of making
advances toward the gunman in the classroom, the officers backed off. Officers
waited 77 minutes during the attack before going inside the classroom to engage
the shooter.
McCraw
authorized his officers not to delay in neutralizing an attacker in future
active shooter scenarios, Newsweek cited the email.
"When a
subject fires a weapon at a school, he remains an active shooter until he is
neutralized and is not to be treated as a 'barricaded subject,'" the email
said.
Almost 400
law enforcement officials arrived to the scene of the mass shooting in Uvalde
but they “failed to prioritize saving innocent lives over their own safety,”
according to a report released in July.
The damning report documents the more than an hour showdown between the
gunman and the unarmed students which resulted in the deaths of 19 pupils and
two of their teachers before the gunman was finally shot dead by officers.
The nearly
80-page report criticized both state and federal law enforcement in Uvalde elementary
school who failed to stop the gunman despite being heavily armed, The
Associated Press reported.
“At Robb
Elementary, law enforcement responders failed to adhere to their active shooter
training, and they failed to prioritize saving innocent lives over their own
safety,” the report said.
The gunman
fired approximately 142 rounds inside the building — and it is “almost certain”
that at least 100 shots came before any officer entered, according to the
report, which laid out in damning detail numerous failures. Among them:
— The
commander of a Border Patrol tactical team waited for a bullet-proof shield and
working master key for the classroom, which may have not even been needed,
before entering the classroom.
— No one
assumed command despite scores of officers being on the scene.
— A Uvalde
Police Department officer said he heard about 911 calls that had come inside
from the classroom, and that his understanding was the officers on one side of
the building knew there were victims trapped inside. Still, no one tried to
breach the classroom.