Cops’ inaction is focus of probe into Texas tragedy
Delay in confronting school shooter criticized
actions – or more notably, the inaction – of a school district police chief and other law enforcement officers moved swiftly to the center of the investigation into last week’s school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
The delay in confronting the shooter – who was inside the school for more than an hour – could lead to discipline, lawsuits and even criminal charges against police.
The attack that left 19 children and two teachers dead in a fourth-grade classroom was the nation’s deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade, and for three days police offered a confusing and sometimes contradictory timeline that drew public anger and frustration.
By Friday, authorities acknowledged that students and teachers repeatedly begged 911 operators for help while the police chief told more than a dozen officers to wait in a hallway at Robb Elementary School. Officials said he believed the suspect was barricaded inside adjoining classrooms and that there was no longer an active attack.
The chief’s decision – and the officers’ apparent willingness to follow his directives against established activeshooter protocols – prompted questions about whether more lives were lost because officers did not act faster to stop the gunman, and who should be held responsible.
“In these cases, I think the court of public opinion is far worse than any court of law or police department administrative trial,” said Joe Giacalone, a retired New York police sergeant. “This has been handled so terribly on so many levels, there will be a sacrificial lamb here or there.”
As the gunman fired at students, law enforcement officers from other agencies urged the school police chief to let them move in because children were in danger, two law enforcement officials said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they had not been authorized to talk publicly about the investigation.
One of the officials said audio recordings from the scene captured officers from other agencies telling the school police chief the shooter was still active and the priority was to stop him. But it wasn’t known why the school chief ignored their warnings.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who at a news conference earlier in the week lauthe ded the police for saving lives, said Friday he had been misled about the initial response and promised there would be investigations into “exactly who knew what, when, who was in charge” and what they did.
“The bottom line would be: Why did they not choose the strategy that would have been best to get in there and to eliminate the killer and to rescue the children?” Abbott said.
Levenson said prosecutors could bring state felony charges of criminally negligent homicide, though she said federal civil rights charges would be unlikely because they require intent.
“I don’t know that we expect every officer to make a perfect decision on the spot,” she said. “But waiting this long – given what we know about how shooters act – predictably leads to tragedy.”