Washington, Jan 19 (IANS): The US Department of Justice (DOJ) in a damning language for law enforcement agencies in Uvalde in Texas held them responsible for their failure to respond and prevent the shooting by a lone gunman in 2022, in the worst ever slaughter of school children in the American history.
By the time the shooter was killed by US Border Patrol agents and not by the hundreds of state and local law officers who swarmed to the school, 19 children and two of their teachers were dead and 17 others were wounded, according to reports.
The 500 page report by the DOJ describes the response by law enforcement as a "failure" with no one taking full command, and criticised certain actions that delayed efforts to save lives and to confront the heavily armed gunman, media reports said.
The DOJ released the report on Thursday just blocks from the May 24, 2022, carnage at Uvalde's Robb Elementary School.
The DOJ's team collected and reviewed more than 14,000 pieces of data and documentation, including training logs, audio, video, CCTV, photographs, personal records, investigative records. Federal investigators conducted more than 260 interviews of people involved or affected, including police officers, elected officials, hospital workers and survivors.
"In summary, the response to the May 24, 2022, mass casualty incident at Robb Elementary School was a failure," said the report, which was formally presented by US Attorney General Merrick Garland.
"The painful lessons detailed in this report are not meant to exacerbate an already tragic situation or further the pain and trauma to those directly impacted by the events on May 24 and the subsequent days, weeks and months.
"The goal is that this report provides answers to those directly impacted, while also conveying recommendations and lessons learned to the nation," Garland said.
In its exhaustive analysis of the top-to-bottom failures that combined to make the shooting one of the worst in history, the report aimed not only to help prevent further shootings, but also to guide, unflinchingly, the next American community that will face this tragedy on how to best respond, USA Today reported.
The DOJ released a report climaxing an emotion charged two days in Uvalde, a city of about 29,000 that was catapulted into the nation's consciousness because of the brutality of the shooter and the breakdown of standard law enforcement procedures when responding to an ongoing shooting with lives hanging in the balance.
Eleven officers from the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District and Uvalde Police Departments arrived on the scene within three minutes of the shooter's entry.
Five advanced initially and two were hit by shrapnel.
Police made three attempts to enter the classrooms, which are adjoined by an interior door.
Police Chief Pete Arrendondo, who has since been fired, "directed officers at several points to delay making entry into classrooms in favor of searching for keys and clearing other classrooms".
He also attempted to negotiate with the shooter and treated the gunman as a barricaded subject instead of a continuing threat to children and school staff, reports said.
No command and control structure was established or command post set up, the DOJ report noted.
Garland's team of investigators included several veteran or retired law enforcement executives that interviewed 26 people, including victims' family members and survivors, first responders and medical caregivers
The May 24, 2022 shooting was the deadliest at a Texas school and became one of the most high-profile law enforcement failures in American history.
As grief-stricken and frightened parents gathered outside the school that day, social media videos showed them begging officers to go inside and rescue their children. About 77 minutes passed before a US Border Patrol team killed the gunman, armed with an AR-15-style assault rifle.