Watch a police officer armed with a gunman’s gun on the battlefield Ovaldi Primary School massacre Walk toward campus but did not shoot while waiting for permission from a supervisor to shoot, according to a sweeping criticism released Wednesday about the tactical response to the May massacre.
Some of the 21 victims at Robb Elementary School, including 19 children, likely “could have been saved” on May 24 had they received urgent medical attention while police waited more than an hour before breaching their fourth-grade classroom, a review through A training center was found at Texas State University for active shooting positions.
Report so far Another debtor’s assessment of how the police failed to act On opportunities that may have saved lives in what has become the deadliest shooting incident in the United States since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.
“He was a reasonable officer who considered this an active stance and devised a plan to deal with the suspect,” read the report, published by the university’s Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Program.
The authors of the 26-page report said their findings were based on videos taken from the school, police cameras, testimonies of officers at the scene and statements from investigators. Among their findings:
- It appears that no officer waiting in the hallway during the shooting was tested to see if the classroom door was closed. The head of the Texas State Police Service also faulted the officers at the scene for not checking the doors.
- Officers had “weapons (including shotguns), flak jackets (may or may not be rated to stop shotgun bullets), training, and support. Victims in classes had none of these things.”
- When the officers finally entered the classroom at 12:50 p.m.—more than an hour after the shooting began—they were no better prepared to confront the gunman than they had been up to that point.
- Effective Incident Command does not appear to have been established among the multiple law enforcement agencies that responded to the shootings.
The report came on the heels of testimony last month in which Colonel Stephen McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, told the Senate that The police response was a “miserable failure”. He specifically blamed Pete Arredondo, saying that as a commander on the scene, the Uvald Schools Police Chief made “terrible decisions” and prevented officers from confronting the gunman earlier.
Arredondo has attempted to defend his actions, telling the Texas Tribune that he does not consider himself the commander in charge of operations and that he assumes someone else has taken charge of the law enforcement response. He said he had no police or campus radios, but used his cell phone to order tactical gear, sniper gear, and disconnect keys.
According to a report on Wednesday, Arredondo and another Uvalde police officer spent 13 minutes in the school entrance during the shooting discussing tactical options, whether to use snipers and how to access classroom windows.
“They also discussed who has the keys, the testing of the keys, the likelihood of the door being closed, and whether children and teachers are dying or dying,” the report read.
Macro said the police had enough officers and firepower at the Ovaldi School massacre scene to stop the gunman three minutes after he entered the building, and they would have found the classroom door where he was holed up open if they had bothered. check it.
Arredondo’s attorney and a spokeswoman for the Uvalde City Police did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Arredondo is on leave from his job With Uvalde Unified Independent School District and Resigned as a city councilor last week.
Public leaders, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott, initially praised Ovaldi’s police response. Abbott said the officers responded quickly and ran toward the shooting with “astonishing courage” to eliminate the killer, thus saving lives. He later said he was misled.
