400 officers on site, no action: Searing report blames police at Texas school massacre

The Uvalde shooting, in which a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers, drew criticism from Texas state senators on Sunday for law enforcement’s tardy response. They said quick actions could have saved the lives. Members of the southern US state’s House of Representatives claimed in a preliminary assessment that nearly 400 policemen, bodyguards, state police and other state sheriffs reacted to the massacre on May 24. But, the MP’s said, the police’s ‘lackadaisical’ attitude to taking the shooter down was to be blamed for the chaos in the scenario, AFP reported.

As perthe report, it stated the delay of 73 minutes between the arrival of the police officers and the shooter’s death is deemed to be ‘an unacceptable length of time.’ The report further claimed that “The void of leadership could have contributed to the loss of life.” However, the report also acknowledges the fact that most of the victims died right after their initial shot was fired, some of them also passed away while being taken to hospital, who could have survived it there wouldn’t have been a 73 minutes delay for help.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

The report claimed without naming any specifics, that the law enforcement officers, “failed to adhere to their active shooter training, and they failed to prioritize saving the lives of innocent victims over their own safety," AFP reprorted.

Pete Arrendondo, the head of the police for the Uvalde school district has been receiving the most criticism. The Texas lawmakers had been suspended until the outcome of the investigation and made analytical errors due to a lack of proper information. However, there’s currently no one to replace him, the report said.

The scene was chaotic due to no one clearly being in charge of managing the response of the chaos. The victims’ family members have been criticising the authorities for the lack of transparency regarding the incident and accused them of covering up the mistakes. The criticism surged after the release of the camera video which showed the shooter arriving at the school with a rifle and the officer’s long time waiting in the hallway before reaching the classroom where the shooter was holed up.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE

You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.