There’s only one word for what new video of Uvalde shooting response reveals: cowardice

As weeks pass, the response to the Uvalde shooting appears to be more and more a lesson in cowardice and shame. A gun debate must continue, as should the necessity of red flag laws, mental health funding, and community awareness — but the failures of law enforcement on May 24 are reprehensible.

New footage from a security camera inside Robb Elementary in Uvalde, revealed Tuesday by the Austin American-Statesman, confirmed the suspicions of many — that law enforcement was nearby and available, but officers failed to act in a quick and timely manner, costing lives and the community’s trust.

We need to know why. The failure of leadership must be thoroughly investigated. Officers must be disciplined, if not fired, and the public needs to know about it. Every possible record and video, painful though they may be, must be released so Texans can know exactly what went wrong and hold leaders accountable to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

The video’s timeline is brutal, but it’s vital to understanding their incompetence.

At 11:33, the gunman enters an unlocked side door, unimpeded and unnoticed. Within 30 seconds, the gunman homes in on a classroom, out of viewpoint of the camera but within earshot, and begins to spray gunfire, shot after shot, round after brutalizing round — for almost three minutes. About 100 rounds.

In the upper right hand corner of the video, an editor’s note is visible: “The sound of children screaming has been removed.”

At 11:36, six or seven law officers enter the school through the same side and bolt towards the room with the sounds of the gunfire still ringing through the air. The shooting stops. It looks as if it could end at any minute. So many children will be saved. But then after a burst of gunfire, the officers all retreat toward the end of the hallway just under the school camera.

Nothing happens. The men crouch. They talk. They check their phones.

Nineteen minutes after the shooter has arrived, and children and teachers are wounded and perhaps fighting to survive, more officers arrive. They are heavily armed, some with ballistic shields. Still, they stand around, appearing to be making a plan.

About 48 minutes later, the gunman is heard firing four more rounds. More men gather. At this point, they outgun and outman the 18 year-old shooter by at least 15 to one, if not more. They are armed, trained, grown men, and they continue to wait and plot at the end of the hallway, away from the gunfire.

Finally, 77 minutes after the gunman has entered the school, a group of law enforcement, including members of the Border Patrol, overwhelm the gunman. The only time the men rush in after their initial attempt failed was at this point, when the gunman is obviously dead.

The entire video, which is more than an hour, is brutal and painstaking in the reality it reveals: Clad in body armor and armed with shields and protective helmets, adult men from a cadre of law enforcement agencies — Uvalde ISD police, Uvalde city police, Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office, Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Rangers, U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Marshals Service — all do nothing as children and their teachers lay dying in a classroom down the hallway.

Rather than gather the necessary courage they require and put their tactical training in emergency shooter situations to use, they seem content to plan extensively in the hall before taking any action to subdue the gunman. At one point, a member of law enforcement uses a the hand-sanitizer dispenser on the wall.

Immediately following the tragedy, school district Police Chief Pete Arredondo said he had treated the situation as a barricaded subject, which calls for a slower response, rather than an active shooter situation, wherein police would attempt to do whatever necessary, to stop the shooter.

The video refutes this: When the initial group of men arrived, the gunman can be heard shooting; it’s clearly still an active-shooter situation.

The video shows in real time what law enforcement in Uvalde had initially denied and obfuscated: What had taken so long for law enforcement to do anything? The truth is more brutal and stark than any parent could imagine: Law enforcement officers were there, within minutes. Had they summoned their courage and executed their training immediately, lives could have been saved.

The release of this video, however shocking, demonstrates the need for all the other documents and video related to this shooting to be released as well: 911 call transcripts, body camera footage and more. If Attorney General Ken Paxton seeks truth and justice, he must not stand in the way.

And the video should be circulated in every single police department in the country as a lesson in cowardice and tactical errors. If lessons can be learned, its the least we can do for the victims and survivors in Uvalde.

This story was originally published July 12, 2022 at 7:43 PM.