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Criticism Mounts over Slow Police Response to Uvalde School Shooting

HeadlineMay 27, 2022

In Texas, anger is mounting over the police response to Tuesday’s massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, which left 19 students and two teachers dead. On Thursday, Victor Escalon of the Texas Department of Public Safety said there were no officers outside the school to confront the 18-year-old gunman, contradicting earlier accounts that a school resource officer unsuccessfully engaged the teen. Escalon also had few answers about the initial police response and why officers took at least an hour to directly confront the shooter even though scores of police officers were on the scene.

Victor Escalon: “Once we interview all those officers, what they were thinking, what they did, why they did it, the video, the residual interviews, we’ll have a better idea. Could anybody have got there sooner?”

One mother was handcuffed by a U.S. marshal as she pleaded with officers to do more to help students trapped inside the school. Another officer was seen holding a Taser to keep angry parents at bay. One law enforcement official told a local news channel some officers went into the school to rescue their own children.

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