Police officer armed with a gun He requested permission to take a shot at gunman Salvador Ramos moments before the 18-year-old entered Robb Elementary School and killed 21 people in Ovaldi, Texas, but the officer It said I did not receive any response.
On Wednesday, Texas State University’s Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center published a damning review of law enforcement’s response to the Uvald shootings, noting that the request came about a minute before a heavily armed Ramos arrived at school. The report claims that the officer was concerned that a bullet might inadvertently hit the children inside the school. The supervising officers did not hear or respond to the call too late.
The report reads: “A reasonable officer concludes in this case, on the basis of the totality of the circumstances, that the use of lethal force was justified.”
The delay meant that many children”It could have been savedIn the classroom.
This is the latest discovery about the chaotic law enforcement tactics that occurred during the massacre, which continues to be heavily criticized by elected leaders and community members alike.
State and federal officials are currently investigating how police responded to the massacre, the second-worst school shooting in US history.
Previously, officials said, armed officers waited more than an hour in a corridor outside the classroom where Ramos was hiding before breaking down a door and shooting him. The terrified children inside the room called 911 several times, begging the police to come.
So that some parents Take matters into their own handssneaks past the police to save the children themselves.
Much criticism has been directed at Uvald School Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who officials say was the incident leader during the shooting.
Mr. Arredondo lacked a radio during the first moments of the shooting, and the officers under him did not attempt to open the chapter door, thinking it was locked when it was in fact open.
President who resigned last week From his city council position and has been on furlough from the police department since June, he said he was not the incident leader at the time.
independent Contact the Uvald Police Department and Mr. Arredondo for comment on the latest developments.
The TSU report also identifies other missed opportunities, noting that one of the first officers on the scene drove to the school so quickly that they flew right next to Ramos who was still outside.
Once the gunman entered the school, he was briefly out of Class 111, where officers could arrest him before heading back inside.
The report also criticized the police formations inside the school. He notes that the police were stationed on either side of a hallway at the school as they were preparing to attack Ramos, “which made it very likely that officers at both ends of the hall would shoot officers at the other end.”
Cumulatively, it suggests that had officers responded promptly and effectively, lives could have been saved. According to audio analysis, Ramos fired 100 rounds in the first three minutes he was in classrooms at Robb Elementary School.
“Ideally, the officers would have accurately shot the assailant when the assailant began shooting at them,” the report read. “Maintaining the position or even proceeding to a better place to fire accurate return fire would undoubtedly have posed a danger, and there was a high probability that some of the officers had been shot or even killed. However, it was also likely that the officers would be able to stop the attacker and Then focus on providing immediate medical care to the wounded.”
In June, Stephen McCraw of the Texas Department of Public Safety testified before the state legislature that the school’s police chief’s decisions during the shooting were “a fiasco.”