Police officers on the scene of what became a horrific massacre in Uvalde, Texas were told school children inside the Robb Elementary School were alive, wounded, and needed help. Despite being heavily armed, well-trained, and well out-numbering the singular gunman, local law enforcement officers took no action to stop the shooter over the course of more than an hour, out of fear for their own safety.
That’s according to a report published Thursday by The New York Times, which says it has seen video footage and reviewed “other investigative material,” including documents.
“More than a dozen students remained alive for over an hour before officers entered their classrooms. The commander feared a risk to officers’ lives, new documents show.”
19 children and two teachers were shot to death. As widely reported, families had to provide DNA because the children’s bodies were so badly destroyed by bullets.
The Times reveals in its report that supervisors on scene were “told that some trapped with [the gunman] in two elementary school classrooms were in need of medical treatment, a new review of video footage and other investigative material shows. Instead, the documents show, they waited for protective equipment to lower the risk to law enforcement officers.”
Pete Arredondo, the school district police chief who is now a city councilman, “was leading the response to the May 24 shooting.”
He “appeared to be agonizing over the length of time it was taking to secure the shields that would help protect officers when they entered and to find a key for the classroom doors, according to law enforcement documents and video gathered as part of the investigation reviewed by The New York Times.”
Public statements made by Uvalde officials claim officers thought the gunman was barricaded in a classroom, presumably alone, and posed “no risk to other children.”
“More than a dozen of the 33 children and three teachers originally in the two classrooms remained alive during the 1 hour and 17 minutes from the time the shooting began inside the classrooms to when four officers made entry, law enforcement investigators have concluded,” The Times adds. “By that time, 60 officers had assembled on scene.”