DOJ Probe of Uvalde Police Response to Include 'Complete Incident Reconstruction' of Shooting
© AP Photo / Alex Brandon
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US Attorney General Merrick Garland gave details on Wednesday about the formation and scope of a Department of Justice task force to review the response by the Uvalde Police Department to the May 24 shooting at an elementary school.
"There is nothing that we can do that can undo the pain borne both by the survivors' families, victims and the community and the country," Garland said Wednesday. "But the independence and transparency and expertise of the Justice Department can go a long way toward assessing what happened in Uvalde with respect to the law enforcement response and to giving guidance for the future."
Garland said the probe, first announced in late May at the request of Uvalde's mayor, would be "comprehensive, transparent and independent," and he was assured it would have the full cooperation of local, state and federal officials.
"The goal of the review is to provide an independent account of law enforcement actions and responses; identify lessons learned and best practices to help first responders prepare for and respond to active shooter events; and provide a roadmap for community safety and engagement before, during, and after such incidents," the DOJ said in a news release. "The assessment will examine issues including policies, training, communications, deployment and incident command, tactics, and practices as they relate to preparing for and responding to active shooter events, as well as the post-incident response. It will also include a review of survivor and victim family support and resources."
Included in the review team's work will be "developing a complete incident reconstruction," including reviewing documents such as manuals, policies, videos and photos; conducting site visits, and wide-ranging interviews with local officials, witnesses, families of the victims, and Uvalde community members. The report will be published once completed.
The probe comes amid a rising wave of fury at Uvalde police following revelations that they hesitated to enter the school and neutralize the shooter and used force to prevent desperate parents from doing so.
Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has already criticized the response by Uvalde police, calling Chief Pete Arredondo’s decision “wrong.”
The shooter, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, had roughly 80 minutes inside Robb Elementary School in which police did not attempt to confront him, during which time he shot 37 children and two adults, 21 of whom died as a result. Amid the showdown, students inside the classroom where he was barricaded repeatedly called police; however, police continued to behave as if an active shooter was not present. In one incident, police called on children inside to yell if they were still alive, which alerted Ramos, who then shot them.
Arnulfo Reyes, a Robb teacher who was shot by Ramos and whose entire class of 11 students were killed in the attack, told ABC talk show Good Morning America on Tuesday that the police had abandoned the victims that day.
“You're supposed to protect and serve," Reyes said of the police. "There is no excuse for their actions. And I will never forgive them."
This week, survivors of mass shootings testified before Congress about their experiences. One girl, 11-year-old Miah Cerrillo, was a student at Uvalde: she told lawmakers on Wednesday how she covered herself in her classmate’s blood and “just stayed quiet” to pretend she was dead while trapped in the classroom with Ramos. A day prior, lawmakers heard testimony from survivors of another mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, 10 days before that in Uvalde, in which a gunman with white supremacist beliefs targeted a grocery store frequented by Black shoppers.
The incidents in Uvalde and Buffalo have helped provoke a renewed nationwide discussion about gun violence and gun control, including calls to ban weapons like the AR-15 rifle Ramos used in the shooting, having purchased it just days earlier without first having to obtain a gun license or submit to a background check. However, a strong gun control bill is unlikely to get through Congress, where Senate Republicans are able to block passage of bills of which they disapprove and where even some moderate Democrats may not back certain restrictions.
