Texas shooting: Video shows police inaction
Security camera footage shows the police officers who responded to the shooting at Robb Primary School in Uvalde hesitating and waiting nearly 80 minutes before to neutralize the shooter who killed 19 children and two teachers.
A video shot in May inside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, shows the inaction of law enforcement during the massacre of 19 children and two teachers. Some wonder if the police will face the consequences of their inaction.
As of now, only one police officer who was present at the scene of the deadliest shooting in Texas history is on leave. Authorities have not released the names of the officers who remained in the halls of Robb School without intervening in the classroom where the shooter had opened fire. And nearly two months after the killings, disagreement persists over who was responsible for the intervention.
The school hallway surveillance video Primary Robb lasts nearly 80 minutes. It shows for the first time the hesitant and haphazard tactical response of fully armed officers, whose actions are condemned by the Texas State Police Chief as a failure, and which Uvalde residents have called a cowards.
It is not certain, however, that the actions – or inaction – of the police during the events of May 24 will lead to more than criticism. City and state leaders have urged people to let the investigations run their course, but demands for accountability and anger are growing.
Even though the officers' hesitation was caught on video, law enforcement experts say it's difficult to predict how likely officers are to face disciplinary action or legal action.
Video released Wednesday shows the shooter inside Robb Elementary School entering and firing an AR-15 type rifle.
More than a dozen officers – some armed with rifles and bulletproof shields – are visible at times in the video. During the long wait to neutralize the shooter, a man wearing a bulletproof vest with the inscription “sheriff” even disinfects his hands.
It's a scene that's very different from the one described by Republican Greg Abbott the day after the shooting, when he praised the quick response and the police who showed dedication. #x27;incredible courage going into the shots. Greg Abbott later admitted that he had received incorrect information, without quoting the source.
After the 2018 Parkland, Florida high school shooting that left 17 people dead, a police officer who knew the shooter was at large but refused to enter the school was arrested. arrested and criminal charges have been laid against him.
Some experts indicate that this kind of case is extremely rare, since it is someone who is charged for not putting his life in danger. They expressed their skepticism on this case whose trial is scheduled for February.
Former prosecutor Joe Brown, who spent two decades as a North Texas attorney, pointed out that there is no criminal law for dereliction of duty. According to him, holding the police accountable in such circumstances would entail a huge social cost. But he added that officers who fail to fulfill their moral duty to intervene could still be ridiculed or fired.
For the mayor of Uvalde, Don McLaughlin, it is still too early to decide if some police officers should be fired. I don't know if they should withdraw […], but everything must be reviewed, he said.
Until now, authorities have confirmed the name of only one off-duty officer: Pete Arredondo. He is the police chief for the Uvalde school district, and he also resigned from his position on the city council – which he won last month. Mr. Arredondo disputes the state police claim that he was responsible at the scene of the shooting.
I think everyone in this Corridor should reconsider his career choice, said security consultant and former FBI agent Greg Shaffer. If you don't have the guts and the mindset to run into gunfire, as a police officer, then you're in the wrong place. profession.
With information from Associated Press
