Why did officers ignore their training and wait outside the fourth-grade classroom for nearly an hour while others detained parents outside? Did the police on-site ignore 911 calls from kids in the room pleading for help? How has so much of the information given by officials later been proven wrong?
Answers to those questions may not come quickly. ABC News reported Tuesday that the Uvalde Police Department and the Uvalde Independent School District police force were no longer cooperating with the Texas Department of Public Safety’s investigation into the shooting.
The coordination had ended after a press conference Friday in which Director of Public Safety Steven McCraw laid the blame on the on-site commander, school district Police Chief Pete Arredondo, for more than a dozen officers standing outside the classroom for nearly an hour while children inside called 911 begging the police for help.
“When it comes to an active shooter, you don’t have to wait on tactical gear. Plain and simple, you’ve got an obligation,” McCraw said, adding, “If shooting continues and you have any reason to believe there’s individuals alive in there, you’ve got an obligation to move back to an active-shooter posture, and that means everybody at the door.”
McCraw said the choice not to immediately confront the shooter “was the wrong decision, period” and that “clearly there were kids in the room, clearly they were at risk, and, oh, by the way, even when you go back to shooting, there may be kids that were injured, they may be shot but injured, and it’s important for lifesaving purposes to immediately get there and render aid.”
A Border Patrol tactical team eventually arrived, and after reportedly being delayed by local law enforcement, they had a janitor unlock the classroom door — which had been described as “barricaded” — and killed the gunman.