US Justice Dept to release report on Uvalde school shooting response

[January 18, 2024]  By Andrew Goudsward
 
(Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department plans to release a report on Thursday on the much-criticized delayed police response to the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 children and two teachers. 

Attendees hold candles during a vigil at Uvalde Memorial Park, one year after a gunman killed 19 children and two adults in Robb Elementary School, in Uvalde, Texas, May 24, 2023. REUTERS/ Evan Garcia/ File Photo

The report will detail the results of the department’s “Critical Incident Review,” of the law enforcement response, a review which began days after the shooting at the request of Uvalde’s mayor.

The police response to the massacre at Robb Elementary School came under intense criticism following reports that law enforcement waited in a hallway for more than an hour while the gunman remained holed up in a classroom and students made panicked 911 calls.

A U.S. Border Patrol-led tactical team ultimately burst into the classroom and killed the gunman.

A July 2022 report from Texas lawmakers described an “atmosphere of chaos” at the scene and concluded that law enforcement “failed to prioritize saving the lives of innocent victims over their own safety.”

The Justice Department review was aimed at providing an independent analysis and identifying lessons for authorities responding to other mass shootings. The department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services led the assessment with the help of outside experts in emergency management, active shooter response and school safety.

Ahead of the report’s release, Attorney General Merrick Garland and other top Justice Department officials were in Uvalde on Wednesday and toured a mural memorializing the victims.

(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Scott Malone and Alistair Bell)

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