Details continue to emerge about how the Uvalde Police Department handled the mass shooting that happened last Tuesday, and they have not been encouraging. The picture that has emerged shows that officers were slow to engage with the shooter, who killed 19 children and two teachers. One reason: because, as one official put it, “they could’ve been shot.” The final verdict on what happened may be damning, which may be why the department is reportedly no longer cooperating with investigators.
Multiple law enforcement sources have told ABC News that the department had cut off communication with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) after Friday. That’s when the group’s director, Col. Steven McCraw, held a news conference in which they called officers delaying entry into the classroom that housed the shooter and many of his victims “the wrong decision.”
When reached by ABC News, a spokesperson for the DPS said Uvalde PD had been cooperating, with the chief of police providing an initial interview. That person, however, hasn’t responded to a request for a follow-up discussion made two days prior.
The Uvalde massacre was the worst school shooting since Sandy Hook in 2012, and the most high-profile since the one in Parkland, Florida in 2018. While those on the left (and even Trump cheerleader Jon Voight) have called for renewed discussions about gun control, many on the right have tried to deflect blame elsewhere, from doors to even teachers.
(Via ABC News)