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June 22, 2022

Texas Official: Police Response to Uvalde School Shooting Was "Abject Failure"
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"An abject failure" - that's how the head of the Texas state police has
described the response of local authorities to last month's mass
shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, when an 18-year-old gunman
shot dead 19 fourth graders and two teachers. Colonel Steve Mc Craw,
director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, made the comment on
Tuesday.

Col. Steven Mc Craw: "There's compelling evidence that the law
enforcement response to the attack at Robb Elementary was an abject
failure and antithetical to everything we've learned over the last two
decades since the Columbine massacre. Three minutes after the subject
entered the west building, there was sufficient number of armed officers
wearing body armor to isolate, distract and neutralize the subject. The
only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers from entering Room
111 and 112 was the on-scene commander, who decided to place the lives
of officers before the lives of children."

Police had said they needed time to get a key to open the classroom's
locked door, but Mc Craw said the door was not locked and that no
officer even checked to see if it was. Mc Craw also revealed one Uvalde
police officer, who was inside the school, was detained while trying to
save his wife, Eva Mireles, one of the two teachers shot dead. Ruben
Ruiz was detained and had his gun taken away after he moved to approach
the classroom where his wife was shot.


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