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AUSTIN (United States), July 6 (AP) A police officer armed with a rifle watches as the gunman in the Uvalde Elementary School massacre walks to campus, but doesn’t fire while waiting for supervisors’ permission to fire, according to a sweeping criticism released Wednesday. Tactical response to the May massacre.
Some of the 21 victims at Rob’s Elementary School, including 19 children, could have “could have been killed on May 24 if they had received medical attention sooner before police waited more than an hour before breaking into the fourth-grade classroom.” Saved”, a comment from the training facility Texas State University’s Center for Active Shooters found.
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The report is another scathing assessment of how police have failed to seize a potentially life-saving opportunity since the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, which became the deadliest school shooting in the United States.
“A reasonable officer would consider this a positive situation and have a plan in place to address the suspect,” read the report released by the university’s Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Program.
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The authors of the 26-page report said their findings were based on video taken from schools, police body cameras, testimony from officers at the scene and statements from investigators. Their findings include:
– There did not appear to be any officers waiting in the hallway during the shooting to check that the classroom doors were locked. The Texas state police chief also accused officers at the scene of not checking the door.
– These officers have “weapons (including rifles), body armor (which may or may not be rated to stop rifle rounds), training, and backup. Victims in the classroom don’t have these.”
— When the police finally entered the classroom at 12:50 p.m. — more than an hour after the shooting began — they were no better equipped to face the shooter than they were at the time.
— There never appears to be an “effective incident command” established among the multiple law enforcement agencies that responded to the shooting.
The report follows testimony last month by Colonel Steven McGraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, who told the state Senate that the police response was a “total failure.” He specifically blamed Chief Pete Arredondo, saying, as the commander on the scene, the Uwald School police chief made a “terrible decision” and prevented officers from confronting the gunman earlier.
Arredondo tried to defend his actions, telling the Texas Tribune that he did not believe he was the commander in charge of the operation and that he believed others had taken control of the law enforcement response. He said he didn’t have police or a campus radio, but he used his cell phone to call for tactical gear, snipers and classroom keys.
According to the report released Wednesday, Arredondo and another Uvalde police officer spent 13 minutes in the school hallway during the shooting discussing tactical options, whether to use snipers and how to gain access to classroom windows.
“They also discussed who had the keys, the test keys, the likelihood that the door would be locked, and whether the child and teacher died or died,” the report reads.
McGraw said police had enough presence and firepower at the scene of the Uwald School massacre to stop the gunman three minutes after he entered the building, and if they bothered, they would have discovered that the door to the classroom where he was hiding was not closed. Lock. verify.
A lawyer for Arredondo and a spokesman for the Uvalde City Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Arredondo has been furloughed from his job at the Uvalde Integrated Independent School District and resigned as city councillor last week.
Public leaders, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, initially praised the Uwald police response. Abbott said officers responded quickly and rushed to the gunfire with “amazing courage” to eliminate the killer, saving lives. He later said he had been misled. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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