The U.S. Justice Department, in its findings released on Thursday, January 18, 2024, concluded that the police response to the 2022 elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which resulted in the tragic loss of 19 children and two teachers, was inadequate. The report emphasized that the victims “deserved better.”
The investigation faulted law enforcement officers for a delayed response, waiting over an hour before breaching the classroom where the 18-year-old gunman held 33 students and three teachers hostage, despite distress calls from the children. Attorney General Merrick Garland, speaking at a press conference in Uvalde, expressed the gravity of the situation, stating, “The victims and survivors of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School deserved better,” and labeling the law enforcement response as a “failure that should not have happened.”
The report specifically criticized responding officers for not promptly engaging the gunman, who had barricaded himself in adjoining classrooms with students and staff for 77 minutes until a police tactical team ultimately neutralized him. Garland asserted that adherence to established protocols would have resulted in lives being saved.
The review revealed that the initial officers on the scene attempted to breach the classroom but encountered gunfire. Subsequently, law enforcement shifted their approach to treating the situation as a “barricaded subject scenario” rather than an active shooting. This deviation from standard practices, as highlighted by Garland, had detrimental consequences.
Law enforcement, including the chief of the school district police force, prioritized evacuating other classrooms and requesting additional police resources instead of immediately confronting the threat, leaving children trapped with the armed assailant, according to the report’s findings. The failure to address the situation promptly and directly contributed to the tragic outcome of the incident.
