It’s been less than two months since the tragic mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. But each day that passes it seems there’s another revelation about how it might not have been nearly as bad if law enforcement had acted competently. Now there’s a new revelation that indicates that possibly the only one that had to die was the gunman.
A just-released report that evaluated the law enforcement response that day shows that a Uvalde police officer asked for a supervisor’s permission to shoot the gunman just before he entered the school, but either the supervisor didn’t hear him or he responded too late, reports the Texas Tribune.
The report was done by the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center, located at Texas State University in San Marcos. According to their report, the police officer’s request has not been previously reported. He was reportedly outside the school about one minute prior to the gunman entering the school. He was concerned he might hit children if he attempted to take out the gunman.
“The report provides a host of new details about the May 24 shooting, including several missed opportunities to engage or stop the gunman before he entered the school,” reports the Texas Tribune. “‘A reasonable officer would conclude in this case, based upon the totality of the circumstances, that use of deadly force was warranted,’” according to the report. The report referred to the Texas Penal Code, which states an individual is justified in using deadly force when the individual reasonably believes the deadly force is immediately necessary to prevent the commission of murder.”
There were a lot of comments about this story on Twitter. Here’s just one: “How did the officer not get permission? Suprised (sic) no one just said F’it and go in anyway.”
An audio analysis outlined in the report shows that the gunman fired 100 rounds in the first three minutes after he went into rooms 111 and 112 — from 11:33 a.m. to 11:36 a.m. The report also proves that the doors were never locked, as Uvalde school district police Chief Pete Arredondo initially said. Surveillance shows that the gunman went in and out the door a few times and he’d have had to use a key if the door lock were working properly.
Another thing the officers did incorrectly was that they were in teams at each end of the hallway. Had they engaged the gunman if he emerged, there was “a high likelihood of officers at either end of the hallway shooting officers at the other end,” the report said. The report outlines other missed opportunities as well.
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Suffice it to say, there is a good likelihood that a lot of young children and their teachers didn’t have to die that day. There were serious missed opportunities that would have saved lives, especially had that officer shot the suspect instead of waiting for permission. It’s what police officers are supposed to do: protect and serve. These did neither. What do you think about this new revelation?
