UVALDE, Texas (AP) – While the video made at Robb Elementary School highlights the bewildered inaction of law enforcement during the killing of 19 children and two teachers in May, some from Uvalde are shouting: Will the police face the consequences?
Only one officer on the scene of the deadliest school shooting in Texas history is known to be on sick leave. Authorities have yet to disclose the names of officers who for more than an hour entered and exited a hallway near the adjoining quarters classrooms where the gunman was firing. And almost two months after the massacre, there is still disagreement over who was in charge.
A nearly 80-minute corridor surveillance video released by the American Austin Statesman publicly showed for the first time, with disturbing and painful clarity, a hesitant and casual tactical response by fully armed officers who the no Texas state police officer has condemned it as a failure and some UValde residents have called it cowardice.
But it is unclear whether the actions – or inaction – of school officials on May 24 will result in more than criticism, even as demands for responsibility and anger increase. Municipal and state leaders have urged people to let the investigations unfold.
There are indications that impatience is growing: hours after the video was released, residents shouted from their seats at a City Hall meeting on Tuesday, asking if officers who were in the shooting were still in the force or they charged. Board members did not respond.
“And the cops?” called a person.
Police have formidable legal protections, created with the idea that their jobs often require life or death trials under great pressure. Even with the hesitations of officers captured on video, police experts say it is difficult to predict the likelihood that they will face discipline or legal consequences.
“It will be reduced to what a reasonable police officer would have perceived at the time,” said Bowling Green State University criminologist Philip Stinson.
Images from a camera in the hallway inside the school show the gunman entering the building with an AR-15-style rifle and includes a 911 tape from a teacher shouting, “Get down! Enter the your rooms! Enter your rooms! “
Two officers approach the classrooms minutes after the gunman enters, and then run back amid the sounds of gunfire. From there, the minutes go by and more shots are heard from the classrooms as additional agents from various agencies arrive. It takes more than an hour before a team finally advances down the hallway, enters the classrooms, and ends the massacre.
More than a dozen officers, some armed with rifles and bulletproof shields, are visible during some points in the video. During the long wait to confront the gunman, a man in armor and a vest who says “sheriff” squeezes a few shots of hand sanitizer from a wall-mounted dispenser.
This is a totally different scene to the one described by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott the day after the shooting, when he praised the quick response and officers who “showed incredible courage running toward the shots.” Abbott later said he was given misinformation but did not identify from whom.
This is just one example of inaccurate and contradictory statements made by authorities during the seven weeks following the shooting. When asked Wednesday if any officers should face discipline for their inaction, Abbott spokeswoman Renae Eze said the governor “believes it would be premature to decide any action” until they are completed. investigations.
After the 2018 shooting at Parkland High School in Florida that killed 17 people, an officer who knew the gunman was loose but refused to enter was arrested on criminal charges. Legal experts have described as an extremely rare case of someone who is essentially accused of not harming and have expressed skepticism about the case, which will be tried in February.
Former U.S. Attorney Joe Brown, who spent two decades as a Republican district attorney in North Texas, said “there is no criminal status for breach of duty” and that the criminal liability of the police in these circumstances “carries a huge social cost.” But he said officers who breach their “moral duty to intervene” could still face ridicule or dismissal.
The mayor of Uvalde, Don McLaughlin, said it was too early to decide whether any agent should be removed from the force. “I don’t know if they have to resign,” he said. “But everything needs to be reviewed.”
So far, officials have only publicly confirmed one officer on leave: Pete Arredondo, the police chief of the Uvalde school district who also resigned from his new seat in City Hall last month. He has challenged the characterization of the state police that he was responsible for the scene.
A Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman said no servicemen who were there were suspended. Uvalde police officers and the sheriff’s office did not answer questions about whether any of his officers have been suspended or put on leave.
Greg Shaffer, a Dallas-based security consultant and retired member of the FBI’s hostage rescue team, said at least the video officers should switch to a different line of work.
“I think everyone in this aisle should reconsider their career choice,” he said. “If you don’t have the courage and the mindset to run to the shots, as a police officer, you’re in the wrong profession.”
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Weber reported from Austin, Texas, and Bleiberg reported from Dallas.