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DOJ accuses police of 'critical failures' that led to major delays during Uvalde shooting

A nearly 600 page report claims that the police "did not demonstrate urgency" by taking 77 minutes to neutralize the person responsible for the attack.

Masacre de Uvalde, Texas.

(Cordon Press)

Published by
Rosana Rábago Sainz

The Justice Department accused police of "critical failures" that caused significant delays during the Uvalde shooting. A nearly 600 page report released by the government organization this Thursday stated that the authorities "did not demonstrate urgency" by taking 77 minutes to neutralize the person responsible for the attack that killed 19 students and two teachers:

The response to the May 24, 2022, mass casualty incident at Robb Elementary School was a failure. The most significant failure was that responding officers should have immediately recognized the incident as an active shooter situation, using the resources and equipment that were sufficient to push forward immediately and continuously toward the threat until entry was made into classrooms 111/112 and the threat was eliminated.

As can be read in the report, the time it the 370 officers on scene to react was crucial in allowing the shooter, identified as Salvador Ramos, 18, to continue with the shooting:

The resulting delay provided an opportunity for the active shooter to have additional time to reassess and reengage his deadly actions inside the classroom. It also contributed to a delay in medical interventions with the potential to impact survivability.

The lack of leadership was another problem during the Uvalde shooting

The police's mistakes are not limited to delay. According to the report, the lack of leadership was also a problem since the authorities took longer than expected to recognize the active shooter and, therefore, to confront him:

During that period, no one assumed a leadership role to direct the response towards the active shooter, provide situational status to responding officers, establish some form of incident command, or clearly assume and communicate the role of incident commander.

ABC11 reported that five officers have lost their jobs as a result of the Uvalde shooting. This includes two officers from the Department of Public Safety and the Uvalde school police chief, Pete Arredondo, who also assumed the role of commander at the scene during the attack.

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