Editorial: Police failed children in Uvalde massacre

A new video shows footage of police officers in body armor milling in the hallway of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, while a gunman continued firing inside a fourth-grade classroom where 19 children and two teachers were killed.

The video published Tuesday by the Austin American-Statesman is a disturbing recording of what has been known for weeks but now has video evidence to confirm — local and state law enforcement failed the children and families in one of the deadliest shootings in U.S. history.

It is inexcusable that heavily armed police officers, some armed with rifles and bulletproof shields, gathered in the hallway and waited more than an hour before going inside and stopping the massacre.

The video underscores the need for accountability after weeks of still-unanswered questions and changing narratives about what happened that day.

“This has been the most unprofessional investigation or handling of it that I’ve ever seen in my life,” Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin said in an interview with The Associated Press. “These families get blindsided constantly.”

The mayor is right.

Instead of transparency, the families of the victims have been met with resistance and obfuscation from officials.

The video shows the gunman entering the school building with an AR-15 style rifle and includes 911 tape of a teacher screaming, “Get down! Get in your rooms! Get in your rooms!”

Two officers approach the classrooms minutes after the gunman enters, then run back amid the sounds of gunfire.

As the gunman first approaches the classrooms, a child down the hallway can be seen poking their head around the corner and then running back while shots ring out. Later, about 20 minutes before police breach the room, the video shows a man wearing a vest that says “sheriff” use a hand sanitizer dispenser mounted on the wall.

There are still questions that remain about the law enforcement response, including how schools police Chief Pete Arredondo came to the forefront of the massive response involving numerous local, state and federal agencies.

There are also questions on the roles of the ranking on-scene officers from other agencies, including the Texas Department of Public Safety.

McLaughlin has accused DPS of minimizing its involvement in the response and releasing inaccurate timelines.

State authorities said Arredondo was the on-scene commander and said his errors delayed police killing the gunman. Arredondo, however, has told the Texas Tribune he didn’t consider himself to be in charge of operations and that he assumed someone else had taken control of the law enforcement response. He did not have a police radio at the time.

A report on the police response written by tactical experts and requested by DPS alleged that a Uvalde police officer had a chance to open fire on the gunman before he entered the school. McLaughlin has said that account was inaccurate.

What is clear is that the law enforcement response was a failure that cost 21 lives.