New DOJ report finds ‘cascading failures’ in law enforcement response to Uvalde school massacre
UVALDE, Texas (Nexstar) — Communication and leadership failures amongst police officials who responded to the mass school shooting in Uvalde contributed to the crisis, a new report from the U.S. Justice Department finds.
The DOJ report, released Thursday, bluntly asserts that if the response had been different, more children’s lives could have been saved in one of the deadliest school shootings in American history. The highly-anticipated review comes nearly two years after 19 children and two teachers were killed by a gunman inside Robb Elementary School.
Attorney General Merrick Garland spent Wednesday touring Uvalde and meeting with families of children who were killed or injured. On Thursday, he and other department officials held a press conference to announce their findings.
"As a consequence of failed leadership, training and policies, injured and scared students and teachers remain trapped with a subject in the classrooms waiting to be rescued," Garland said. "Had law enforcement agencies followed generally accepted practices in an active shooter situation, and gone right after the shooter to stop him, lives would have been saved and people would have survived. “
It identifies “cascading failures,” ranging from neglecting to set up a command post and not treating the situation as an active shooter incident. A lack of adequate technology and lapses in training exacerbated their response, in which officers took more than 77 minutes to breach the classroom and take down the gunman.
“The response to the May 24, 2022, mass casualty incident at Robb Elementary School was a failure,” the 575-page report reads.
“Officers on scene should have recognized the incident as an active shooter scenario and moved and pushed forward immediately and continuously toward the threat until the room was entered, and the threat was eliminated,” the report says. “That did not occur.”
Texas Department of Public Safety
We thank the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for the tremendous amount of time and attention it has put into compiling the critical incident review of the shooting at Robb Elementary School. As DPS Director Steven McCraw first stated in the weeks after the shooting, the law enforcement response that day was an abject failure, and this report’s observations underscore those failures. The State of Texas has already implemented some of the recommendations proposed by the DOJ review in order to prevent tragedies in the future.
Texas Department of Public Safety
Garland said that the DOJ will not be pressing charges against any of the 376 officers who responded that day, saying there is no federal criminal jurisdiction since the gunman is dead. He said any possible charges will be up to Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell Busbee, who has not said publically what her investigative timeline is.
Nexstar has reached out to Busbee asking for updates or if she is pursuing charges, but has not heard back in recent months.
A community fights for answers and accountability
Over the last 20 months since the shooting, families of the victims and survivors have fought tooth and nail for justice and accountability — often frustrated with the changing narratives from officials since the day the shooting happened.
Brett Cross, who lost his son Uziyah Garcia, said it was validating to hear one of the highest-ranking officials in the nation validate what he has thought since the beginning.
"It was really good to hear somebody in that position, finally be like, 'yes, children could have been saved.' And now people can't ignore that, you know? You can't ignore it when the Attorney General of the United States says kids could have been saved, because he's not going to do anything without verification," Cross said. "It's in black and white. It's got the DOJ stamp of approval. So now people might listen."
He said Uziyah wanted to be a police officer when he grew up, making the way he died even more painful for Cross and their family.
"It's frustrating that he was failed by the same career that he wanted to do. But he wanted to be a cop to save people," Cross said.
The City of Uvalde released a statement after the report's release.
Just days after the May 24, 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting, former Mayor Don McLaughlin requested the Justice Department conduct a review to provide an independent and complete account of all law enforcement actions, lessons learned, and best practices to help first responders prepare for and respond to active shooter events.
“The City has already implemented changes in leadership, new personnel, new training, and new equipment to enhance law enforcement’s ability to protect the safety of our community, and has enlisted an independent investigator to conduct a thorough, objective, and credible review of the City’s law enforcement response. We anticipate that independent investigation will be finished this month.
“At every level throughout the review process, the City of Uvalde cooperated and provided extensive information to the Justice Department to ensure a fulsome account of law enforcement’s response from the City’s perspective. At this time, we are reviewing the full Justice Department report and will provide additional comments on its findings, as appropriate, following our careful and thorough review process.
City of Uvalde