Widespread Failures In Uvalde School Shooting, Report Finds

UVALDE, TX — Nearly 400 law enforcement officers responded to the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, but widespread failures led to a delay of longer than an hour before the gunman was confronted and killed, according to a report released by the Texas House of Representatives on Sunday.

Local officers in Uvalde has been heavily criticized for their response in the nearly two months since the shooting, but the new report is the first to include criticism of federal and state law enforcement.

The report, written by the investigative committee of the Texas House, blamed officers at all levels for not taking initiative to set up an incident command post. It also noted state and federal law enforcement were much better equipped to handle the active shooter situation than school district police, which received criticism and blame from state officials for its response.

According to the report, 376 officers responded to the school with a majority of those state and federal law enforcement, including nearly 150 border patrol and 91 officers from the state.

There were no villains among first responders, only the shooter, officials made a point of mentioning in the report.

"There is no one to whom we can attribute malice or ill motives," the report said. "Instead, we found systemic failures and egregiously poor decision making."

Pete Arredondo, the school district police chief who has taken the brunt of the public blame for law enforcement's hesitance to confront the shooter, defended his decision to treat the situation as a barricaded subject and not an active shooter because he could not make visual contact with the gunman, according to the report.

Arredondo was "consumed" by a search for a key to the door of the fourth-grade classroom where most of the shooting occurred, despite no one checking to see if the door was unlocked. The search "wasted precious time," the report said.

The report comes after a nearly 80-minute hallway surveillance video was published by the Austin American-Statesman this week, showing the hesitant tactical response of dozens of law enforcement officers as screams and shots can occasionally be heard.

"At Robb Elementary, law enforcement responders failed to adhere to their active shooter training, and they failed to prioritize saving innocent lives over their own safety," the report said.

Family members of the Uvalde shooting victims met with officials earlier Sunday and received the report before it was released to the public.

"It’s a joke. They’re a joke. They’ve got no business wearing a badge. None of them do," Vincent Salazar, grandfather of 11-year-old victim Layla Salazer, told the Associated Press.

Later Sunday, the city of Uvalde announced several measures it was taking following "the first factual and complete report" on the shooting.

Acting Uvalde Police Chief Mariano Pargas has been placed on administrative leave, and the city will conduct an internal investigation into both Pargas' and the department's role in the active shooter response, Mayor Don McLaughlin said.

The investigation will look into whether Pargas was responsible for taking command of the incident as well as what steps he took to establish command and whether it was feasible for him to take command with the amount of officers involved, according to the statement.

The city also released police body cam footage after previously holding off under direction from Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell. The footage provides "further, necessary context" to the hallway surveillance footage published by the Statesman earlier this week, according to the statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.