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The police response to the Texas school massacre was led by the head of a six-officer police department that oversees about eight schools. The first officers at the scene were the police force of the city of Uvalde, which has a part-time SWAT team and about 40 officers on payroll.
Police experts said it made sense for the school’s police chief to be at the helm, as it was his campus and he knew security protocols.
But authorities made it clear on Friday that many other things went wrong as these small police departments joined state, local and federal law enforcement agencies in the city of 16,000 people. Officers waited nearly an hour at Robb Elementary School before a group entered the classroom and confronted 18-year-old Salvador Rolando Ramos. At the time, according to police, Customs and Border Protection officers shot and killed the gunman, who had killed 19 children and two teachers and injured 17 others.
Trapped next to a gunman, the students called 911 and begged, “Send the police.”
State officials have offered contradictory and partial accounts of the slow response, which included police forcing parents to walk away from school and subdue them while asking officers to enter.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and others initially said officers had reacted quickly and saved lives. Officials now say the school system police chief was wrong in deciding that the gunman had gone from an active shooter to a “barricaded subject” and made no effort to break down the door and enter.
An off-duty Border Patrol tactical agent was the first to arrive outside the classroom and “basically said we do,” according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official who spoke on condition of anonymity. to share preliminary research details. “I was not told they were frustrated,” the official said of other border patrol officers who came together. “But they told me it was hard to tell who was in charge.”
Police made a “wrong decision” not to prosecute Uvalde, according to the official
Pedro “Pete” Arredondo, head of the police department of the independent school district of Uvalde, who was the commander of the incident, did not respond to requests for comment on Friday. A spokeswoman for the Uvalde Police Department referred inquiries to the Texas Department of Public Safety, and requests to the local district attorney’s office went unanswered.
“We needed help as soon as possible for our children, and she wasn’t there,” Amanda Flores, who said she knew the 21 victims, said Friday at a memorial on Main Street. “I saw those parents running, wanting to go get their children and the police approaching the parents, and that should never have happened.”
Since the Columbine school massacre in 1999, many police departments have trained officers to prosecute an attacker as soon as possible, to minimize the number of teachers and children shot. Prior to that, the guide often focused on waiting for specially trained tactical officers with specialized equipment.
In March, school district police organized an active shooter training at Uvalde High School, according to a post on the agency’s Facebook page. “Our overall goal is to train all agents in the Uvalde area so that we can prepare as best we can for any situation that may arise,” the publication said.
The state-mandated course curriculum advises that “In the event of an active attack on the school, law enforcement officers should do their utmost to fill the gap until other first responders arrive.” . The “first priority of an arriving officer is to come in and confront the attacker,” even if that officer has to act alone, the guide says.
Live Updates: Latest News After the Texas School Massacre
The Texas legislature in 2019 passed a measure that required such training for all school police officers. The curriculum teaches officers about Columbine and the change in police response tactics since then, as well as the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. Armed school stayed out of Parkland High School rather than confronting the gunman, provoking criticism of himself and his department.
“The first to respond to the active shooter scene will usually have to put themselves in danger and show unusual acts of courage to save the innocent,” the state curriculum says.
Chris Grollnek, a retired police officer and active sniper prevention expert, said he was baffled that school officers were waiting to confront the gunman while children and teachers were in the room with him. .
“The first officer who responded, I don’t care if it’s the kind of dog cartoon attached, comes in and stops the shooter. That’s just part of the job,” Grollnek said. “You have a ballistic vest. You know what kids have? Colored pencils. You have a duty to do something. If someone tells you to stay out, you disobey that order.”
In 2020, the UVAT city SWAT team toured school campuses to interact with students and familiarize themselves in the event of an emergency, according to a post from the department on Facebook. The department’s 2018 annual report said the SWAT unit had monthly tactical training sessions, open to the participation of all officers.
Rogelio Martin Muñoz, a lawyer for the defense of Uvalde and a former member of the city council, said on Friday that Uvalde “is not one of those communities where there is mistrust between the police and the population. There is no problem of police violence, of police brutality. The criticism is that they are not doing a very good job. “
“I’m not saying take that position,” Muñoz added. “They’re people who are trying to do a good job who are probably underpaid.”
Sara Spector, who worked as a prosecutor in Uvalde about a decade ago, said area agents are often poorly paid and poorly trained. “They’re being asked to do something you expect to see outside of a New York City police department or a Dallas police department.” said Spector, who is now a lawyer in Midland, Tex. But “it’s a different world, especially when you enter less affluent rural communities.”
Abbott said Friday he is looking for a full review of law enforcement response.
“There will be ongoing research detailing exactly who knew what when, who was in charge of what strategy. Why was this particular strategy used? Why were other strategies not used? The conclusion would be why they did not choose the What would be the best strategy to get in and eliminate the killer and rescue the children?” said Abbott.
Tim Craig and Teo Armus in Uvalde, Texas, and Timothy Bella and Nick Miroff in Washington contributed to this report.