New Uvalde Shooting Details Raise Serious Questions About Police Response

Questions mount about the police response to the Uvalde, Texas elementary school shooting as new information emerges that contradicts initial law enforcement claims.

Summary

Questions mount about the police response to the Uvalde, Texas elementary school shooting as new information emerges that contradicts initial law enforcement claims.

• What happened in the 90 minutes between Ramos crashing his car near Robb Elementary School at 11:28 am and law enforcement reporting he had been killed at 12:58 pm is still unclear, but initial law enforcement claims that “they rushed in” after the shooter no longer seem plausible.
• Frustrated parents urged police to enter the elementary school and stop the gunman, and bystanders even discussed charging the building if the police would not act.
• Police initially claimed an officer engaged the gunman before he entered the school. Now, the Texas Department of Public Safety says no school resource officer engaged the shooter at all, and “he walked in unobstructed” after firing his gun outside the school for 12 minutes.
• The gunman spent an hour inside the school before a tactical team engaged the shooter. This “appears to have veered from guidance…that says officers should pursue shooters inside buildings without waiting for specialized backup.”
• President Joe Biden will travel to Uvalde on Sunday to honor the 19 children and two teachers slain at Robb Elementary and meet with victims’ families.

• The New York Times reported an off-duty Border Patrol agent charged into the building with a shotgun borrowed from his barber to help evacuate as many children as possible.
• CNN covered the tragic death of Joe Garcia, who suffered a fatal heart attack two days after his wife Irma, a fourth-grade teacher, was murdered at Robb Elementary. His family said he “died of a broken heart.” Joe and Irma Garcia leave behind four children.
• The Washington Post profiled the victims, including 10-year-old Tess Mata, who was saving up for a trip to Disney World, girls’ basketball teammates Lexie Rubio and Ellie Garcia, and 9-year-old Jacklyn Cazares, who just celebrated her First Communion.

• The Wall Street Journal reported on the shifting police explanations of their response, and the new timeline that reports Ramos locked himself in a fourth grade classroom 16 minutes after arriving outside Robb Elementary and after exchanging gunfire with police.
• Fox News covered reports that parents were handcuffed and tased outside of Robb Elementary School while trying to rescue their children. Parent Angeli Rose Gomez said, “The police were doing nothing. They were just standing outside the fence. They weren’t going in there or running anywhere.”
• National Review covered Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s comments attacking Senate Democrats for being “complicit in the violence” at Uvalde because they have not yet passed gun control legislation.

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© Dominic Moore, 2022