A brand new report has revealed that local law enforcement officers waited outside of Robb Elementary School for over an hour, despite the fact they possessed knowledge that kids were still trapped inside with the shooter, alive, and potentially wounded.
This is really damning, folks. What we have here is a prime example of a truth that many individuals in modern times have forgotten. A badge and a gun do not a good cop make. There are many good cops out there willing to go out into the community, put their lives on the line, and truly serve and protect.
However, the officers who stood by and did nothing during this shooting should probably not be included in that particular group.
Being in law enforcement requires courage. Courage is not the absence of fear, it’s moving forward and doing what is right despite being afraid. Uvalde’s officers do not exemplify this quality.
According to an article that was published Thursday which details an investigation that was carried out by the New York Times concerning the highly criticized police response to the horrific shooting in Uvalde, Texas, body camera footage, along with other forms of documentation, suggest that initial claims made by the police were false.
“Uvalde school district top cop Pedro Arredondo, who was in charge at the scene of the shooting, reported that he was unaware students were dialing 911 from inside the classroom — one even taking a mobile phone from her deceased teacher in order to do so. But the Times report suggested otherwise,” the Daily Wire reported.
“Heavily armed officers delayed confronting a gunman in Uvalde, Texas, for more than an hour despite supervisors at the scene being told that some trapped with him in two elementary school classrooms were in need of medical treatment, a new review of video footage and other investigative material shows,” Times reporter J. David Goodman went on to write in his report, citing footage taken from officers’ body cameras, along with documentation put together after the incident. “Instead, the documents show, they waited for protective equipment to lower the risk to law enforcement officers.”
“The school district police chief, who was leading the response to the May 24 shooting, appeared to be agonizing over the length of time it was taking to secure the shields that would help protect officers when they entered and to find a key for the classroom doors,” Goodman continued.
Even though local law enforcement officers knew that students were still alive inside the school, they waited for more than an hour to secure protective shields for themselves before attempting to breach the classroom where the gunman was barricaded inside.
“The chief, Pete Arredondo, and others at the scene became aware that not everyone inside the classrooms was already dead, the documents showed, including a report from a school district police officer whose wife, a teacher, had spoken to him by phone from one of the classrooms to say she had been shot,” Goodman stated in the report.
Steven McCraw, Texas DPS chief, pointed out in the days following the tragedy that it was wrong for the officers to wait outside, even if they were waiting for additional backup or equipment.
"Of course it was not the right decision!" TX DPS Director says cops should have charged #Uvalde school. "Every officer lines up stacks up, goes and finds where the rounds are being fired at and keeps shooting until the subject is dead, period." pic.twitter.com/9qOL0jHXbx
— Virginia Kruta (@VAKruta) May 27, 2022
“Of course it was not the right decision it was the wrong decision period. There is no excuse for that,” he went on to say. “By the way, Texas embraces active shooter training, active shooter certification. That doctrine requires officers, we don’t care what agency you are from you don’t have to have a leader on the scene. Every officer lines up, stacks up, goes and finds where the rounds are being fired at, and keeps shooting to the subject is dead, period.”
Clearly, there are more questions about the local police’s response to this situation that need to be answered. However, there also needs to be accountability for this debacle. The horrible decision-making that unfolded on the day of the shooting resulted in the shedding of blood.
The police committed a sin of omission. They did not do what they were supposed to do. Therefore, they need to be held to account. It’s as simple as that.
