Why did police wait? One possibility is that they’re plain cowards. Cowardice is pandemic in America today, and reinforced in all kinds of ways. People daily conceal or even abandon their principles out of fear of being called names (“racist!” “bigot!” “Islamophobe!”), and shun and even attack those who are not cowards in order to please and appease the powerful, and are lauded for doing so. We’re constantly exhorted to submit to bullying and intimidation rather than stand up to it (yes, I am thinking of Muhammad cartoons). We’re told that masculinity is “toxic” and that weakness is a virtue. We’re told that police are to a man (and a woman, and a whatever) evil bullies who should be defunded. Then we wonder why we have police who are cowards? It’s a wonder we have any who aren’t.
The other possibility is that police were told to wait, ordered to do so, by people who wanted to see the body count rise so that this massacre could be exploited for political purposes. But no one would do that in the United States of America, would they? Would they?
“‘More could have been done’: Texas police under scrutiny over response to school shooting,” by Ed Pilkington, Guardian, May 26, 2022:
Texas law enforcement agencies are facing escalating criticism over their response to the mass shooting at Robb elementary school in Uvalde, after it emerged that the gunman remained locked inside a classroom for up to an hour while large numbers of police officers were amassed outside the room without taking any action.
At a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Texas authorities confirmed that the shooter had been locked inside a classroom for an hour before he was confronted and killed. He committed all his 21 murders inside that room – including 19 children and two teachers.
“Numerous” police officers had assembled just outside the room, the authorities admitted, but did not make any attempt to break through the door during that hour. Instead, they decided to pull back and wait until a specialist tactical unit arrived, while evacuating other children and staff from the building.
Victor Escalon, the south Texas regional director of the state’s department of public safety, told the press conference that armed officers arrived at Robb elementary about four minutes after the shooter entered through an unlocked side door at about 11.40am on Tuesday. Yet it was “approximately an hour later” that a tactical team of US Border Patrol arrived at the school, burst into the classroom and killed the gunman….
The Associated Press reported that as the massacre was unfolding, several parents and other local people expressed distress at the apparent hesitation of law enforcement to storm the school. Juan Carranza, who lives beside the school, told the news agency he witnessed women shouting at officers: “Go in there! Go in there!”
Javier Cazares, whose 10-year-old daughter Jacklyn was killed, told AP that police appeared unprepared.
“More could have been done,” he said.
He said he and other residents gathered outside the school started to plan their own rescue mission as the gunman remained locked inside.
“Let’s just rush in because the cops aren’t doing anything like they are supposed to,” he said.
A video recorded by residents and posted on social media captured in real time the anger of parents at the spectacle of armed police standing outside the school and not going in. “They are all f**king parking outside, man – they need to go in there, they are all in there. The cops aren’t doing s**t but standing outside,” shouted one father.
A distressed mother yelled: “I’m going to go. All these kids are in the school and they are just standing there. Our kids are there, my son is right there.”
As tension mounted, a police officer is filmed trying to push parents back from the side of the school. “You know that there are kids, right? There are little kids. They don’t know how to defend themselves from the shooter,” the father said.
One mother who spoke to the Wall Street Journal said officers put her in handcuffs for “interfering in an active investigation” when she urged them to enter the school. “The police were doing nothing,” Angeli Rose Gomez told the Journal. Authorities have disputed her account.
Jose Cazares, whose niece Jackie died in the shooting, said her family wants answers about how police responded that day: “It took them 45 minutes to do what? Nothing.”…
wpm says
If the school had only one point of entry unlocked (from the outside) with an arm office there this would not have happen maybe the safety standards should be upgraded in all public schools. Putting a sign out front stating the school is a “gun free” zone has not work out too well in the last 30 years. Also maybe the training and drills with local law enforcement on how and what they should be doing at these mass shooting should be upgraded ,but democrats are still pushing to defund the police and make them the bad guys to people of ‘color”. We sent over 30 billion to the Ukraine ,but will not spend money to train the police to handle mass shooting ,or pay for armed police or guards at our schools.
cornelius says
Robert’s first point is absolutely legitimate and needs to be said. His second suggestion is reflective of the hysteria and conspiracy-mania that has gripped the country on both the left and the right. One understands that whatever cynicism he has on these matters can be directly attributable to what happened to him in Texas a few years ago at the Muhammad cartoon awards….but one hopes he would resist this Alex Jones-mentality. Jihad Watch is far too important to descend down such a self-repudiating rat-hole.
11B40 says
Greetings:
Crowd control and protection of the crime scene can be conflicting interests.
Everyone available clearing a complex building may not be optimal.
That being said, the cavalry used to ride to the sound of the cannons.
Rarely says
It is shameful to suggest that the police were held back because somebody who had authority over them wanted to see the body count rise.
I don’t know if the delay was due to indecision, cowardness or a combination of the two of the person in charge but the situation could certainly have used a hero. It is amazing that none of the officers present demanded immediate action.
PMK says
The story has changed multiple times. Did the police wait outside while those people were murdered or did they arrive after the people in that room had been shot? It’s not clear that they stood outside listening to gunshots. Ramos did all his killing in that one room. Apparently he was trapped in that room by police. While waiting for the special unit to arrive, the police evacuated other staff and students from the building.
The killer was able to enter through an unlocked door and that’s not good. However locks aren’t a guarantee of safety. The Sandy Hook shooter encountered a locked door. He simply broke the glass of the door with his gun and reached in and unlocked the door and then went about his business murdering people.
I’m reluctant to criticize the way the police handled this incident. The accusations of cowardice are premature and unfair. Like it or not, the police in this country have been put in an impossible situation. They’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
Joe1 says
From what I read, he was locked in that room for 95 minutes with the children and teachers. 19 police were in the hallway and could hear the shots killing the kids. Many 911 calls from inside the room confirmed that at least 8 of the kids were still alive and waiting to be shot. Of course, a faster resolution would have saved lives, because a number of the children bled out.
PMK says
Thank you Joe1, for that info. However, this morning I read a report that the school’s own safety features gave the shooter the upper hand. Once he got into the classroom, he was able to lock the door. The police had to wait for a key, because the door’s construction made it impossible for them to kick it down, like we see on TV or movies. They had to wait for someone to get them a key. The safety features were meant to keep an active shooter from breaking into the classroom.
Texas Department of Public Safety officials told Breitbart Texas on Friday that these classroom doors are designed to not be able to be kicked in by someone outside the classroom. The doors open toward the hallway and are encased in a metal frame. The windows on the door are a tall, slim rectangular shape designed to limit visibility into the classroom by an active shooter.
We learn more and more about the specifics of this shooting but it seemed wrong to immediately condemn the police as ‘cowards’.
Naildriver says
Grim realities of our present society that seem now persistent and universal across the country.
This shameful response was hardly new, as Columbine and other shootings revealed the reluctance or absurd cowardice of the police and authorities to enter, or ask their heavily armed and vested police to enter, a shooting area to save the lives of children.
Typically after gunman teen shoots themselves they then demand the student servivors to put hands upon head and march single file out of building — i assume while police can aim their considerable firepower at them.
somehistory says
One report said that screams and crying could be heard. What parent hearing that could just stand and wait while the police figured out what to do?
One officer was at the barbershop and his schoolteacher wife sent a message. He borrowed a gun from his barber and went to the school, and he and a few others rescued his wife and kids and some other children.
The cops admitted to getting their own kids out while the team “waited” and kept the parents from going in.
There was certainly something *wrong* with all of this. Who knows what will be the final verdict on who should have done what or why they didn’t rush the school? One officer said they had to wait due to the number of cops needed. How many would it take for ‘one active shooter.”?
There is probably a lot of blame to go around. It’s just so very awful that little kids were in the middle of it all….the motive and terror on one side and the ? lack of planning? inexperience? cowardice? on the other side.
mgoldberg says
If they heard sounds, if…. then that is criminal negligence indeed. If they didn’t hear any of the sounds of shooting, nor have any reason to think it was occuring, then one would supposed they wanted to talk to the shooter, and discuss what he ‘wanted’. It doesn’t appear, form what I’ve read so far, that that was the case. So, if there was no discussion, either they didn’t hear anything, and were waiting for …. what? Or, they heard something and that is criminal negligence in my book.
JDow says
I suppose in this day and age when police are so hated it makes sense to require they enter a shooting gallery and get killed like ducks in a row. There is something to be said about not entering when you are facing somebody suited up in body armor and armed with an AR-15. That’d simply be going to their deaths rather than trying to contain the disaster until properly armed and equipped people get there.
What rules of engagement did they have? Would it permit them to enter the safer portions of the school, where the shooter isn’t, and bring those inside out to safe area? If so they should do that. they did allow a CBP member to do this apparently armed with his barber’s shotgun.
Once people with body armor arrived they proceeded to do what they could.
Now, why is everybody so upset about this. School shootings this year have not risen to the one in a million level. How about we deal with more deaths on a typical Chicago weekend? than less than 1 in a million over a year? How many die on school transportation going to and from school? How many die of various diseases each year, even without “deadly” COVID in the picture? How many suicide over bullying or school stress?
Is this politicians worried about 2A making their attempts to place Americans firmly under their boots a bunch safer? I do NOT see all this ballyhoo as meaningful. and won’t until I see the other problems, the other larger problems, being addressed.
{^_^}
somehistory says
According to The Hill
“Texas officials say officers should have confronted school shooter earlier’
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/texas-officials-say-officers-should-have-confronted-school-shooter-earlier/ar-AAXO5pD?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=
somehistory says
From Reuters
“Kids called 911 from classroom during Texas massacre as police waited outside – official”
“UVALDE, Texas (Reuters) -Panicked children and teachers placed half a dozen calls to 911 emergency services from the Texas classrooms where a massacre was unfolding, pleading for police to intervene, while roughly 20 officers waited in a hallway for nearly an hour before entering the room, authorities said on Friday.”
The on-site commander, the chief of the school district’s police department in Uvalde, Texas, believed Ramos was barricaded inside the classroom and that children were no longer at risk, giving police time to prepare, McCraw said.
“From the benefit of hindsight where I’m sitting now, of course, it was not the right decision,” McCraw said. “It was the wrong decision.”
It’s always “hindsight” when things go wrong that say what should have been done. Poor kids. Poor teachers. And one of the murdered teacher’s husband died of a heart attack while planning his wife’s funeral. So sad.
This world has turned evil in so many ways, in so many places, by so many choosing to do wrong.
somehistory says
I am feeling flabbergasted. The WaPo quotes an officer who said the officers “could have been shot” and “could have been killed.” That’s a fact, but the kids were getting shot and getting killed.
Now this from FOX:
;’Tactical team prevented from entering school earlier by local Uvalde police: report”
I took a course in hostage negotiations. This “negotiations” thingy takes place when there are hostages but no one is being killed. If people are being murdered, there are no “negotiations.”
If the Uvalde PD were “negotiating”…that was clearly wrong. What other *reason* could there have been for not allowing the Border Patrol Unit to go in?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/tactical-team-prevented-from-entering-school-earlier-by-local-uvalde-police-report/ar-AAXOaHf?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=
john smith says
These police were cowards it’s as simple as that. Though they will never admit to this, but they put their own lives before the lives of the children. Not everyone is made of the same stuff as a hero and unfortunately none of these police were.
I’m sure they will live to regret the fact that they couldn’t find the courage to confront the gunman.
somehistory says
Police protocol says when two have arrived, they go in to stop an active shooter.
Evidently, there were 19 officers in the hallway outside the classroom where the shooter was…for nearly the hour…while kids inside were calling 911 and begging for help.
Sickening. and I can only imagine the anger of the parents upon learning more of the details, esp those who were on site and begging the cops to go inside or allow them to go rescue their kids.
David M says
The general police in the hallway would have had to follow orders. The orders were to stay outside, so they were following the orders.
Whoever gave the orders should be stood down, fired, & possibly prosecuted. I can sense multiple law suits from the parents against the police for dereliction of duty after this.
somehistory says
The Incident command guy was the Chief of the ISD police. He gave all of the orders to wait.
gravenimage says
Why did Texas police wait 45 minutes outside school while shooter murdered 21 people?
………….
Yes, it could have been cowardice. It also could have been bureaucracy–that someone high-ranking and not on scene decided that they had to wait for SWAT. Either way, it resulted in a lot of dead children. At least some of this could have been prevented if police went in sooner.
Apparently at first they thought it was a barricade situation, but calls from children and school staff must have made it quite clear that this was an active shooter situation.
That being said–and it is appalling–do I believe that police *deliberately* wanted children to die? I do not.
somehistory says
The guy who is chief of the Uvalde ISD Police prevented others from entering….he thought the shooting was over and that was a big mistake.
It has also been revealed that a teacher left the back door propped open and he walked in.
another thing, he had a juvi record for saying, four years ago, that when he became a senior, he was going to shoot up a school.
David M says
There should be background checks in Texas so lunatics like this cannot legally buy a gun. I know he could still get one illegally but there still should be background checks to legally allow him one.
gravenimage says
Thanks for that background, Somehistory.
gravenimage says
I’ve now heard that it was an hour.
“Police waited an hour for backup in the Uvalde shooting. That’s an outdated tactic, experts say.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/uvalde-shooting-police-waited-hour-backup-rcna30622
gravenimage says
“Onlookers urged police to charge into Texas school”
https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/05/27/onlookers-urged-police-to-charge-into-texas-school/
PMK says
gravenimage,
Even if the police charged the school, they could not have gotten into the classroom where the shooter was. Once the shooter got into the building through that open door he had the upper hand. The classroom doors swing outward, not inward, and are encased by a metal frame. The door construction was meant to keep the shooter from breaking into the classroom. The same safety feature kept the police out as well. They were required to wait for a key. Maybe a future incident can be prevented by making the key readily available to police, but that’s another issue and it probably entails more risk to the students, if a shooter knows where to get the key..
OLD GUY says
The POLICE can’t WIN! We have this political groups who want to reduce funding and police because they see them as a threat to people of color and criminals. Just because your a police officer it doesn’t mean you run into gun fire blindly without taking reasonable care of protecting your own life and that of others around you. You can’t defund and reduce your police force without reducing its capabilities to respond and make the best decisions in protecting others. Real life situations don’t always end like they do in the movies.
May God welcome these victims into his graces and protect those who put their lives on the line daily for the betterment of society.
Beneath the Veil of Consciousness says
This seems to be an overwhelmingly suburban thing. Urban students, by and large, don’t form cliques which serves to shun and shame certain children. With inner city school children, there is an unspoken rule that you don’t mock and alienate others, possibly due to the notion that the one you mock may have a relative who would serve up “street justice,” if you did. Yes, there exists gangs, but many join in search of father figures that are so often absent from these children’s lives. Collectively, urban school children live with the shame and humiliation of poverty, and dysfunctional broken and fatherless families on a daily basis. There is no distinction between the “in” group and the “out” group. They are all alienated. They are all in this together and there is no shame in that.