Texas official report: 376 officers on scene, 77 minutes ticked by, and no one would go in to save Uvalde’s children as they were slaughtered by a lone gunman

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77-page report released Sunday by a special Texas House of Representatives committee tells the story of total failure by law enforcement to protect children and staff of Robb Elementary School when they were attacked by a lone gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers on May 24.

Some 376 officers responded when the gunman walked through the school doors, yet 77 minutes passed before a small group of officers finally confronted the man and killed him.

It was “a force larger than the garrison that defended the Alamo — descended upon the school in a chaotic, uncoordinated scene that lasted for more than an hour. The group was devoid of clear leadership, basic communications and sufficient urgency to take down the gunman, the report says,” wrote the Texas Tribune on Sunday.

No one at the scene would take charge, the report says, as the gunman picked off the innocent children one by one.

State Rep. Dustin Burrows of Lubbock was one of the lawmakers who called for the investigation. “This committee is a fact-finding committee. Our job was essentially to figure out what the facts were and to report it,” he said. “Today is not the day that we are going to share what our feelings and convictions are.”

“If there’s only one thing that I can tell you is, there were multiple systemic failures. Several officers in the hallway or in that building knew or should have known there was dying in that classroom, and they should have done more, acted with urgency,” he said during a press conference on Sunday.

“Despite an obvious atmosphere of chaos, the ranking officers of other responding agencies did not approach the Uvalde C.I.S.D. chief of police or anyone else perceived to be in command to point out the lack of and need for a command post, or to offer that specific assistance,” the report says.

The report says police “failed to prioritize saving the lives of innocent victims over their own safety.”

On surveillance tape released last week, it’s clear that police officers arrived within minutes but would not go down the hallway to confront the gunman. More and more officers arrived, but still none would attempt to get to the gunman for over an hour.

Watch the 77-minute video from inside the school at this link. Caution: Disturbing material.

Families of the Robb Elementary victims were shown the video on Sunday

The report also shows that existing gun laws would not have stopped Salvador Ramos from obtaining the weapon he used, and the expanded background checks passed by Congress would also not have prevented Ramos from obtaining the gun, as he had no documented history of gun violence. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski voted in favor of that gun control bill.

Accounts of what occurred that day had shifted over time. The report shows that the lieutenant who was supposed to brief Gov. Greg Abbott on the day following the shooting had “literally passed out while waiting in the hallway before hand.” The job of briefing the governor went to an officer who only had secondhand information.

81 COMMENTS

  1. As sadly crass as it may sound, THIS is the reason that those who say “We do not have to worry about defending ourselves, we pay taxes for police to do this job. Give up your guns. You’ll be fine” are finding it hard to justify that angle. But it won’t stop them. Once committed, often on the Left, an issue once seized upon cannot and will not easily be loosed in spite of the facts. It reminds me of a dog I once owned that continued to bite porcupines. It doesn’t work. He doesn’t win. He only lost. But he did it again.

    • And a private citizen in Indiana just ended a crazed shooter incident in an Indiana shopping center! Private citizens with arms are a benefit to society!

      • Clearly the answer here is to defund the police and arm every citizen. What could go wrong? Guns are not the problem–people are!

        • No, the proper solution is both.
          Keep the police, and encourage any citizen of good standing that want to carry to carry.
          .
          At least you got the last sentence correct.

  2. Fire every single one of those officers. Not ONE of those officers would disobey stand-down orders and go in there? That’s military training for ya. Do what you’re told, no matter how stupid.

    “Children are being shot to death, but stand down anyway. We can’t risk a single officer’s life to protect kids.”

    • I have friends who are getting out because the military isn’t much better. More concerned about gay rights than fighting China.

    • Yeah, let’s put more former soldiers not receiving adequate care for PTSD in schools–make sure they have full body armor and their M4s so kids no their real value as window dressing.

  3. Face it. Texas is an R state where it’s all rhetoric and little substance from the politicians. You see it in governance, and you see it in their unregulated power grid that enrichens donors but doesn’t care much about whether Texans have heat when it’s deadly cold or blistering hot.

    • Police are funded, and under the control of the cities, not the State.
      .
      A failure on the part of Uvaldes says something about that city only.

        • True, TX does have state troopers, but that was not, if I read it correctly, the point of Ben’s comment. Also, in a relatively high population state like TX, the size and role of the State Troopers is limited. Almost all police responsibility is at the city level.

  4. One of the intended results of the commie pinko leftists … to put our civil servants in such a state of impotency that they can’t see any situation for what it is, and respond effectively.
    Once the chain of command succumbed to the far lefts woke agenda, there was nobody left who could make a command decision.
    This is what “De-fund the police” and declining to prosecute violent crimes is all about. It’s about paving our road to communism.
    We are the frogs in the pot slowly coming to a boil. We see what’s happening but we can’t seem to break free from the thrall.

  5. This is the sissifying of America. Where are the real men who would go in and fight for the life of an innocent child? The decline of civilization on display right there, with 376 men unwilling to do what’s right because they might die trying.

  6. The Democrats won the cultural war. Men are women now. Children are inconvenient and expendable. Rules don’t apply to the powerful.

    The Republicans are no better. Just quieter.

    If this is what society has become, the nutcase wing of Islam is right. Our society should burn.

    • “The Democrats won the cultural war. Men are women now. Children are inconvenient and expendable. Rules don’t apply to the powerful……..”
      If the war is over, why are scumbags increasingly killing kids in classrooms and shoppers in malls?

  7. One lone officer at the high school shooting in Florida several years ago, was also chastised for not immediately confronting the shooter. And he lost his job.

  8. When will Americans snap out of their psychosis that there is no coincidence to the plethora of shootings around the nation? Do you think it a coincidence that the majority of the targets are typically children to pull on the heart strings of Americans to support gun control or worse confiscations? Why did the Uvalde Resource Officer do nothing to intervene? Why did a large group of Law Enforcement stand there with rifles and Ballistic Shields and listen to children screaming for help? Why were the normally locked security doors left open? This was a planned attack orchestrated by nefarious people currently serving our government! You can’t make this stuff up folks. Conspiracy theory no more. The leftists that currently hold power in DC are purposely, I say again, purposely orchestrating the demise of the USA! The only things standing in their way is our Constitution and our 2nd Amendment rights. They pour countless billions of dollars of your money into Ukraine while our Southern Border is wide open and justify it. They destroy the economy while kowtowing to our enemies. They will not be satisfied until we are a 3rd world nation. The last lynch pin is the 2nd Amendment. Why do you think they are passing gun bill after gun bill through Congress right now? America is currently in a death match with the Deep State and we need to be fully engaged in this battle by supporting America First candidates for congress and protecting your families. If I had kids in school right now, I would pull them out. The government school system is poison and they will learn more at home that will actually help them accel in life, not be brainwashed by the NEA. Wake up, see something say something!

      • And I just learned that Lucinda is a radical leftist extremist with nothing to back up her faith-based dogmas and insane ideology but snark and ad hominem attacks.
        .
        (Actually, we all knew that already.)

      • “I just learned a lot from you about how the far Right fails at reason and critical thinking.”
        Well, don’t keep us in suspense. Share this enlightenment with us! Details, please!

      • Sorry, I missed it.
        Please point out where Michael is failing at reason and critical thinking. I am just not seeing it, and as a far right individual, I think I can benefit from your wisdom.

        • He is claiming that Uvalde and a plethora of other shootings are part of a government plan to advance gun control.

          Please tell me that you smart people don’t believe that.

          • Curiously, everything Mr. Johnson stated fits the situation. Is it correct? I do not know the answer to that question, but I certainly can see how someone is reaching the conclusions he is.
            .
            Does the average right wing nutjob think this administration is deliberately killing school age kids? No, even that is beyond belief. However, taking advantage of a school shooting to push their anti-gun agenda? Oh… yes. No doubt about it. As former WH Chief of Staff Rahm Emmamuel (sp?) said “Never let a crisis go to waste.” At least he is commonly credited with that quote.
            .
            The shooting itself may not be created to push gun control. However, gun control is being pushed, heavily based on this and other shootings.
            .
            Curiously, the civilian that stopped the mass shooting in Indiana seems to have disappeared from the news… weird.

  9. I’m in law enforcement and I spotted right away that they appeared to not have any active shooter training. They all stood around, not knowing what to do. Active shooter training is very simplistic in nature so officers from anywhere can join together and neutralize a target in a very short amount of time. Sad because this training takes very little time and is relatively inexpensive. Too busy training for social issues?

    • Two old men stopped a church shooting and they had only firearm safety courses. The great armies of the past all had intelligent leadership, much of it was delegated to the lower ranks.
      Covid sort of put the finishing touch to fear and uncertainty. When it spread, nobody knew what it was, nor how to deal with it. But to do nothing was political suicide. So they tried six of one thing, and a dozen of another. Failing on all fronts. It turns out that doing nothing other than treatments for reducing the chance of a cytokine storm would have been the best choice.
      That, and the leftists sowing mass confusion has paralyzed much of our leadership.

  10. Trickle down effect of our federal “law enforcement “ if the evil person that day , barricaded himself in a classroom and was singing the national anthem it wouldn’t have been 77 minutes…..

  11. John Wayne or Chuck Norris didn’t shoot their way into the classroom because they don’t exist. The Uvalde School District Police Chief, who commanded three officers the day before, was completely overwhelmed when 376 commandos from multiple local, state, and federal agencies charged in after school officials let that mass murderer walk into the building and lock himself into that secure classroom with his victims. The policy of breach, shock, and awe might still be questionable over just ringing the classroom phone and trying hostage negotiations (psychological warfare). 376 cops to secure the outside of that school with media and distraught parents trying to enter the building or generally needing to be contained obviously wasn’t enough.
    In short, Mr. Ramos, despite his young age, either outsmarted the entire system, or (along with a secure building being clearly rendered unsecure) he just got “lucky”.
    I’m more interested in the political structure of a school district police department, which had a chief, assistant chief, administrative assistant, and three officers (who, as expected, were located at the high school and middle school). That doesn’t look efficient to me, and looks like a school board wanted 100% control. They need a higher percentage of the scrutiny now.
    Anchorage schools have Anchorage Police officers at the schools that the district decide need officers (probably not elementary schools), and my bet is that the district pays the police department per officer. This keeps incident command with Anchorage Police Department……..probably a very good thing.
    But what about Mat-Su? Wasilla schools might have Wasilla Police officers, and Palmer might have Palmer Police Officers, but what about Colony? Talkeetna? Other Borough schools?
    Indeed, I really think it’s way past time for a borough police authority for the core area. But, considering how and when the Wasilla Police Department was stood up, and how and why Girdwood finally contracted with Whittier Police for coverage, it will take a disaster for the Mat-Su to get with the program.

  12. One of the least talked about features of the Incident Command System is what happens when the Designated On Scene Incident Commander is utterly clueless about what to do. There are procedures in the System to remove that person, but everyone is reluctant to teach about it, much less train for it, because it would imply that there are incompetent people at the top of the ladder.

  13. The infamy of Uvalde is the horror of the dead and injured children, the misfeasance and incompetence of those trained police officers who were sworn “to protect and serve,” and the utter depravity of the killer. Uvalde is the most recent example of too many terrible events and situations that happen almost daily in our wretched nation. Our heads and hearts are buffeted by the madness and the grief. How did we arrive here, and where do we look for solutions? In a distant land, in antiquity, these Divine words of warning were given at a time of severe troubles: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Book of Jeremiah, chapter 16) Were the people in that time and place willing to humble themselves, and repent? Are we willing? If not, then prepare for our God-given rights and inherited liberties to be surrendered to corrupted politicians in a futile search for peace.

  14. Why is it so important to disarm Americans. Who wants us unarmed. The foreign soldiers massing in Mexico? Do
    the cartels smuggling children through the world want us unarmed. Why do democrats want their countrymen unarmed is beyond reasonable answer.

  15. Two things strike me.

    People have forgotten how to use a paragraph (thanks AK public education)

    MRA has become a refuge for people wanting any excuses or opportunity for proselytizing. Jesus expects us to handle our own affairs, not pawn things off on Him (sigh).

    • Here’s another strike for you: some people carry old phones that barely function. How terrible for someone as self-important and grandiose as you are. How can you go on. People who have super old phones are such a plague. And, winter is coming.

    • “……..Jesus expects us to handle our own affairs, not pawn things off on Him…….”
      Matthew 19:26
      “……’Who then can be saved?’
      Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.’……….”

  16. A well-regulated militia should include teachers, administrators and janitors carrying personal protective pistols or having access to carbine rifles and pistols in locked closets in classrooms. They could carry the keys at all times. They could all be trained. Its simply common-sense preparedness. Policies and procedures must adapt to the decay of morality and order in our culture. Why did we see it fit to harden airports, courthouses and federal buildings but not schools?

    • Absolutely not. Compulsion is a tool of the left. A moron who doesn’t want to have a firearm is more dangerous than a nut with a gun. If you don’t think the students will fine a way into the gun cabinets you’re dreaming.

      Staff who want to, pass the checks and training, and will carry on their person should be armed.

      No one knows how they will react when shooting starts. Real life, real people are not Chuck Norris. Just ask the Uvalde cops who pissed themselves when the time came.

      A better option is armed ex military. They already have the training and know how they will react under fire

      • Wadayamean “compulsion is a tool of the left”? The Right is restricting family planning with the pregnancy mandate compulsion. They are eliminating intrastate travel. Tired of authoritarian conservatives.

        • “…….The Right is restricting family planning with the pregnancy mandate compulsion……..”
          If killing a child in the womb is “family planning”, then summary execution of mass murderers on the spot is “planned justice”.

        • Pregnancy mandate?
          What mandate?

          There is no compulsion to get pregnant. None whatsoever.

          Eliminating interstate travel? What? Who is pushing for such a thing? Please, show me a single conservative that is advocating for the elimination of interstate travel. Also, explain exactly how something like that might actually be carried out.

          • Republicans mandate full term pregnancy (once you’re pregnant obviously). Republicans are trying (though haven’t yet) to prevent interstate travel for abortions.

        • Oh… poor little women who do not know how to put on a condom or take a pill, or just plain abstain from sex. They might have to go to a different state to use abortion as birth control.
          Bummer.
          .
          Still not seeing a mandate to carry to term. Don’t want your baby, abort it. Can’t get one in your state, go to CA, or another state that is allowing them up to full term.
          .
          And, which Republicans are trying to stop interstate travel? Names please.

          • Ten bucks says you are a freedom and liberty patriot, yet you would take away the freedom and liberty of a woman to manage her own body and travel

        • So, you cannot name any Republicans who want to restrict interstate travel? Got it. Making up stuff once again.
          .
          And, while you are all about the woman’s body, I notice you cannot be bothered about the child’s body. Let’s be honest here, there is a point during the pregnancy when the fetus becomes a viable human being. Premature babies are surviving at higher and higher rates all the time, but the pro-choice crowd thinks 3rd trimester abortions are perfectly OK.
          .
          Let me be clear here. I am not taking away a woman’s right to control her own body. I am just advocating for some common sense restrictions to protect those that cannot protect themselves. If you want an abortion, go get one. That is your moral choice, not mine to control. But, if you need to wait nine months before you make that decision, you are killing a human being. And, if you are using abortion instead of cheap easily available birth control, you too are killing a human being.
          .
          Simply common sense.

  17. But… the shooter had one of those super terrifying double scary dangerous AR-15 rifles. If I understand correctly a single bullet from one of those will kill a dozen men, without even aiming it.

    • You just trivialized a weapon that decapitated two children. That’s called GDS – Gun Derangement Syndrome.

      • I trivialized no weapon. What I trivialized is the histrionics coming from the gun grabbers about a style of rifle that is, in the larger scheme of weapons, a low power firearm. I have handguns that deliver more footpounds of energy at the muzzle than an AR platform rifle chambered in 5.56mm/.223 does.
        .
        And, people like you continue to push a false stereotype about AR patterned firearms without demonstrating any real knowledge.

        • I don’t care that you have a powerful handgun. The AR 15 weapon decapitated two children. You mocked a tragedy.

          • Reading comprehension not exactly your strong point there Lucinda.

            I mocked no tragedy. I mocked the idiots who get PTSD simply by seeing an AR patterned rifle. Did you miss this: “What I trivialized is the histrionics coming from the gun grabbers about a style of rifle that is, in the larger scheme of weapons, a low power firearm.”

            Here. Let me emphasize the important words: “What I trivialized is the histrionics coming from the gun grabbers …”

    • Turns out, the shooter did have one of those AR platform rifles–designed to kill and maim people. And it worked. Nineteen children dead and another dozen people injured. But it wasn’t a single bullet. The shooter had multiple magazines and a semi-automatic rifle, that worked as intended. But we definitely need more guns to stop this problem, maybe an AR under every little one’s Christmas three in 2022!

      • “…….But we definitely need more guns to stop this problem, maybe an AR under every little one’s Christmas three in 2022!”
        I’m long retired. I was issued an M-16 during the Vietnam Era. Select fire. It was kinda’ nice because it was very light, and with all that other crap we had to carry, the lighter weight was welcome. But I wouldn’t call that toy an “assault weapon”. In fact, that’s rather funny……..something I would expect from a child or brainwashed twit. I’ve never owned an AR-15. I’m not impressed with them, and have no use for one. I have real rifles. Very scary kinds. But if somebody wanted to put an AR-15 under my CHRISTmas tree for me, I’d take it. It would be fun to play with.

      • Whoosh!
        That’s the sound of my point, and my sarcasm flying right over your head. Thanks for playing though.
        .
        As to everyone getting a gun for Christmas 2022, it might not be such a bad idea. If more people are taught to shoot, and respect firearms from a young age, instead of pretending they do not exist, perhaps there would be less crime. After all, you do not protect your child from drowning by never letting them near a body of water. Instead you teach them to swim. It is the epitome of ignorance to think your child will never encounter a gun, but parents pretend that not letting them see, or learn about guns, will protect them.

  18. Obviously there’s no way to defend the officer’s behavior at the Uvalde incident however, you get what you ask for. I guarantee you that 100% of these officers were more capable than any of the keyboard cowboys that respond with machismo to this and similar articles but the reality is that nearly all of the police action shootings have been contested recently.

    Ask yourself… you’ve seen several complete pieces of detritus shot by police recently and who came to their aid? Who defended what they did? All of the recent orticles about police shootings have been written from the same perspective and it’s that some bully cop choked out a drug addles POS of color and now that cop needs to go to prison.

    And you all built this. Don’t defund the police; defend them.

    That, or you’ll get more of these panty boy responses from folks trained to be more capable than you.

  19. Alright dems I’m all ears, please explain how, exactly, will another impotent assault weapon ban, or gun safety law prevent the next mass murder. Remember, murderers use what is at hand. You would be wise to research the many types of firearms, bows, poisons, b.o.mb.s, motor vehicles….
    And please, just how long will it take for your brilliant plan to take effect?
    We need to lock the damn doors! We need to put armed Men in the damned schools! Stop the bleeding, clear the airway, the mental health aspect needs to be addressed, but first things first. Stop the murderer !!
    Sadly I suspect that is not on the democrat agenda.

  20. A law that allowed gun purchases only from a 21+ yo would have derailed Uvalde. How big an affront to you and other enthusiasts is that?

    • A law that stops a woman from destroying an unborn child for convenience after it is capable of living outside the womb would save thousands of lives a year. How big of an affront to you and other pro-choice advocates is that?
      See, that logic works against the leftists as well.
      .
      Now, let’s pretend that a minimum age law is passed. How would that have stopped the shootings in Columbine, Sandy Hook, Aurora, Miami, etc… where the shooter is over the age of 21, or they stole the gun? I am sure every gangbanger in Chicago is well over the age of 21, right?
      .
      The thing that is an affront to the firearm community is not the age, or the background check, or any other so-called common sense gun law. It is that they are meaningless. They will not stop a single criminal from committing a crime. Requiring a minimum age for a gun purchase will not stop a murderer from committing murder. If the Uvalde shooter could not purchase their own gun, they would have used a different method. See the Happyland Nightclub murders, see the OK City bombing. Or, they would have stolen the guns. Or whatever. They were already going to kill as many people as they could, and no law is going to stop that.

  21. Hey CB, I’d enjoy discussing things with you but the Reply function bottoms out. Hope you can get along without my guidance.

    • Hey Lucinda:
      Simple solution. Go to the last post I had in the thread with a reply button, and reply to that one. I have been doing that to continue the conversation with you, but for some reason, you do not realize that I am using that technique.

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