‘egregiously poor decision making’

A special Texas House committee investigating the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde wrote in a report released Sunday that there was “egregiously poor decision making” by responding local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies.

The committee interviewed dozens of people, including police officers and witnesses, to gain a better understanding of what happened at the school during the May 24 mass shooting. The gunman shot and killed 19 students and two teachers, and was confronted and killed 77 minutes after he first opened fire.

The report found “law enforcement responders failed to adhere to their active shooting training, and they failed to prioritize saving innocent lives over their own safety.” Nearly 400 officers were at Robb Elementary School, and surveillance footage shows dozens of them milling in the hallway while the gunman was moving between two fourth-grade classrooms.

The school district’s police chief, Pete Arredondo, has said he didn’t think he should have been in charge, but the committee found that the district’s school shooting response plan says the chief takes control in such a situation. The report also states that someone from one of the larger law enforcement agencies could have stepped up to lead but didn’t.

Most of the victims died immediately, the report found, because the injuries inflicted by the high-powered AR-15-style rifle used by the gunman were so damaging. A few later died at the hospital, and the report states “it is plausible that some victims could have survived if they had not had to wait” to be rescued.

Selina Silguero’s niece, Jailah Silguero, was killed in the attack, and she told The New York Times the officers “had big rifles and shields and all that. They want to cover it up and point fingers at each other. I want it all, we want it all, for them to be fired and charged.”