The Justice Department’s investigation involved interviews with more than 200 individuals and the analysis of more than 14,000 pieces of evidence as of spring 2023.
UVALDE, Texas — A federal report into the law enforcement response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde found multiple failures of law enforcement and concluded the massacre could have been stopped sooner with better training and decision-making skills of officers.
The report, which was released Thursday morning, revives scrutiny into the actions of the hundreds of officers who responded to the massacre but waited more than an hour to confront and kill the gunman.
The community of Uvalde continues to try to heal from the killing of 19 elementary students and two teachers as questions continue on the accountability of the officers’ actions on May 24, 2022.
The report bluntly states that the law enforcement response was “a failure.” Below is an excerpt from the report.
“In summary, the response to the May 24, 2022, mass casualty incident at Robb Elementary School was a failure. The painful lessons detailed in this report are not meant to exacerbate an already tragic situation or further the pain and trauma to those directly impacted by the events on May 24 and the subsequent days, weeks, and months.”
One of the key findings of the report addresses the communication between different agencies. The report says, “On the day of the school shooting at Robb Elementary School, each PIO acted independently and failed to coordinate the public messaging aspect of the response.”
The report stressed the importance of having a unified command system in place before critical incidents occur. The report also establishes firmly the Uvalde CISD did have jurisdictional authority over the incident, which was something in question during the initial investigation.
The Justice Department was careful to clarify the report is a critical incident review, not a criminal investigation. The key findings were found through the review of more than 14,000 pieces of evidence including training logs, body cameras, CCTV footage, audio recordings, personnel records and manuals of operating procedure.
The review team visited Uvalde nine times for a total of 54 days in the town.
Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell said in a statement Wednesday that she had not been given a copy of the Justice Department’s report but had been informed it does not address any potential criminal charges.
Following the release of the DOJ report, Attorney General Merrick Garland will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. discussing the department’s findings.
On Wednesday night, many of the families of the victims were the first to learn what’s in the report when they met with DOJ officials – including AG Garland – at Uvalde’s Herby Ham Activity Center.
The families told KENS 5 they will share their thoughts on the new report in a news conference following the DOJ’s remarks Thursday.
Key observations from the report
The report is divided into 11 “observations” and recommendations the department has to prevent those from happening in the future.
Below are a few of the key findings:
Texas House committee investigation
Meanwhile, in the last year and a half since the shooting, multiple damning reports have placed blame on cowardice, lack of sufficient training, and incompetence for why police waited more than an hour to breach the classroom and subdue the 18-year-old gunman.
An 80-page report from a panel of state lawmakers and investigations by journalists in July of 2022 laid out how over the course of more than 70 minutes, a mass of officers went in and out of the school with weapons drawn but did not go inside the classroom where the shooting was taking place. The 376 officers at the scene included state police, Uvalde police, school officers and U.S. Border Patrol agents.
Texas Tribune Investigation
A Texas Tribune investigation in March of 2023, based on police body cameras, emergency communications and interviews with investigators that had not been made public, found officers had concluded that immediately confronting a gunman with an AR-15 would be too dangerous. Even though some officers were armed with the same rifle, they opted to wait for the arrival of a Border Patrol SWAT team, with more protective body armor, stronger shields and more tactical training — even though the unit was based more than 60 miles away.
“You knew that it was definitely an AR,” Uvalde Police Department Sgt. Donald Page said in an interview with investigators after the school shooting. “There was no way of going in. … We had no choice but to wait and try to get something that had better coverage where we could actually stand up to him.”
At least five officers have lost their jobs, including two Department of Public Safety officers and Uvalde’s school police chief, Pete Arredondo, who was the on-site commander during the attack.
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