And again... (Another US Shooting)

[spaminator]

Justice Department report finds ’cascading failures’ and ’no urgency’ during Uvalde, Texas, shooting
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Acacia Coronado And Jake Bleiberg
Published Jan 18, 2024 • 3 minute read

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Police officials who responded to the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas “demonstrated no urgency” in setting up a command post and failed to treat the killings as an active shooter situation, according to a Justice Department report released Thursday that identifies “cascading failures” in law enforcement’s handling of one of the deadliest massacres at a school in American history.


The Justice Department report, the most comprehensive federal accounting of the haphazard police response to the May 24, 2022, shooting at Robb Elementary School, identifies a vast array of problems from failed communication and leadership to inadequate technology and training that federal officials say contributed to the crisis lasting far longer than it should have.


Even for a mass shooting that has already been the subject of intense scrutiny and in-depth examinations, the nearly 600-page Justice Department report adds to the public understanding of how police in Uvalde failed to stop an attack that killed 19 children and two staff members.

Uvalde, a community of more than 15,000, continues to struggle with the trauma left by the killing of 19 elementary students and two teachers, and remains divided on questions of accountability for officers’ actions and inaction.


The shooting has already been picked over in legislative hearings, news reports and a damning report by Texas lawmakers who faulted law enforcement at every level with failing “to prioritize saving innocent lives over their own safety.”

In the 20 months since the Justice Department announced its review, footage showing police waiting in a hallway outside the fourth-grade classrooms where the gunman opened fire has become the target of national ridicule.

Attorney General Merrick Garland was in Uvalde on Wednesday ahead of the release of the report, visiting murals of the victims that have been painted around the center of the town. Later that night, Justice Department officials privately briefed family members at a community center in Uvalde before the findings were made public.


Berlinda Arreola, whose granddaughter was killed in the shooting, said following Wednesday night’s meeting that accountability remained in the hands of local prosecutors who are separately conducting a criminal investigation into the police response.

“I have a lot of emotions right now. I don’t have a lot of words to say,” Arreola said.

The review by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services was launched just days after the shooting, and local prosecutors are still evaluating a separate criminal investigation by the Texas Rangers. Several of the officers involved have lost their jobs.

Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell said in a statement Wednesday that she had not been given an advance copy of the Justice Department’s report but had been informed it does not address any potential criminal charges.


How police respond to mass shootings around the country has been scrutinized since the tragedy in Uvalde, about 85 miles (140 kilometers) southwest of San Antonio.

In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott initially praised the courage of officers’ response and blame was later cast heavily on local authorities in Uvalde. But an 80-page report from a panel of state lawmakers and investigations by journalists laid bare how over the course of more than 70 minutes, a mass of officers went in and out of the school with weapons drawn but did not go inside the classroom where the shooting was taking place. The 376 officers at the scene included state police, Uvalde police, school officers and U.S. Border Patrol agents.

The delayed response countered active-shooter training that emphasizes confronting the gunman, a standard established more than two decades ago after the mass shooting at Columbine High School showed that waiting cost lives. As what happened during the shooting has become clear, the families of some victims have blasted police as cowards and demanded resignations.

At least five officers have lost their jobs, including two Department of Public Safety officers and Uvalde’s school police chief, Pete Arredondo, who was the on-site commander during the attack.

Justice Department report finds ’cascading failures’ and ’no urgency’ during Uvalde, Texas, shooting

The most comprehensive federal accounting of the haphazard police response to the May 24, 2022, shooting at Robb Elementary School.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Uvalde parents lash out after new report clears city police of missteps during Texas school attack
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Acacia Coronado
Published Mar 07, 2024 • Last updated 5 days ago • 4 minute read

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — An investigation Uvalde city leaders ordered into the Robb Elementary School shooting put no blame on local police officers and defended their actions Thursday, despite acknowledging a series of rippling failures during the fumbled response to the 2022 classroom attack that left 19 children and two teachers dead.


Several family members of victims walked out in anger midway though a presentation that portrayed Uvalde Police Department officers of acting swiftly and appropriately, in contrast to scathing and sweeping state and federal past reports that faulted police at every level.


The investigator who presented the report blamed families who rushed to the school that day for compromising the police response, prompting an eruption of anger from several families and some stormed out. Law enforcement took more than an hour to get inside the classroom and kill the gunman, even as children inside the classrooms called 911, begging police to rescue them.

“You said they did it in good faith. You call that good faith? They stood there 77 minutes,” said Kimberly Mata-Rubio, whose daughter was among those killed in the attack, after the presentation ended.


Another person in the crowd screamed, “Cowards!”

Jesse Prado, an Austin-based investigator and former police detective who made the report for the Uvalde City Council, described several failures by responding local, state and federal officers at the scene that day: communication problems, poor training for live shooter situations, lack of available equipment and delays on breaching the classroom.

“There were problems all day long with communication and lack of it. The officers had no way of knowing what was being planned, what was being said,” Prado said. “If they would have had a ballistic shield, it would have been enough to get them to the door.”

The city’s report is just one of several probes into the massacre. Texas lawmakers found in 2022 that nearly 400 local, state and federal officers rushed to the scene but waited more than an hour before confronting the gunman. A Department of Justice report in January criticized the “cascading failures” of responding law enforcement.


Law enforcement took more than an hour to get inside the classroom and kill the gunman, even as children inside the classrooms called 911, begging police to rescue them.

But Prado said his review showed that officers showed “immeasurable strength” and “level-headed thinking” as they faced fire from the shooter and refrained from shooting into a darkened classroom.

“They were being shot at from eight feet away from the door,” Prado said.

Prado also said the families who rushed to the school hampered efforts to set up a chain of command as they had to conduct control with parents trying to get in the building or pleading with officers to go inside.

“At times they were difficult to control,” Prado said. ” They were wanting to break through police barriers.”


Family members erupted when Prado briefly left after his presentation.

“Bring him back!′ several of them shouted.

Prado returned and sat and listened when victims’ families cried and criticized the report, the council and the responding officers.

“My daughter was left for dead,” Ruben Zamorra said. “These police officers signed up to do a job. They didn’t do it.”

A criminal investigation by Uvalde District Attorney Christina Mitchell’s office into the law enforcement response in the May 2022 shooting remains open. A grand jury was summoned earlier this year and some law enforcement officials have already been asked to testify.

Tensions remain high between Uvalde city officials and the local prosecutor, while the community of more than 15,000, about 85 miles (140 kilometers) southwest of San Antonio, is plagued with trauma and divided over accountability.


Uvalde City Council member Hector Luevano said he was “embarrassed” and “insulted” by the city’s report.

“These families deserve more. This community deserves more,” Luevano said. “I don’t accept this report.”

The city report comes after a nearly 600-page report by the Department of Justice in January found massive failures by law enforcement, including acting with “no urgency” to establish a command post, assuming the subject was barricaded despite ongoing gunfire, and communicating inaccurate information to grieving families.

“Had law enforcement agencies followed generally accepted practices in active shooter situations and gone right after the shooter and stopped him, lives would have been saved and people would have survived,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said when the federal report was released.


The DOJ reported that 48 minutes after the shooter entered the school, UPD Acting Chief Mariano Pargas “continued to provide no direction, command or control to personnel.”

The city report notes the agency’s SWAT team had not trained consistently since before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Three UPD officers who were present in the hallway during the shooting “were the leadership of the SWAT team and had the most experience with Uvalde PD.”

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott initially praised the law enforcement response, saying the reason the shooting was “not worse is because law enforcement officials did what they do.” He claimed that officers had run toward gunfire to save lives.

But in the weeks following the shooting, that story changed as information released through media reports and lawmakers’ findings illustrated the botched law enforcement response.

At least five officers who were on the scene have lost their jobs, including two Department of Public Safety officers and the on-site commander, Pete Arredondo, the former school police chief. No officers have faced criminal charges.

Uvalde parents lash out after new report clears city police of missteps during Texas school attack

"You said they did it in good faith. You call that good faith? They stood there 77 minutes."

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Uvalde police chief who was on vacation during Robb Elementary shooting resigns
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Acacia Coronado
Published Mar 12, 2024 • 3 minute read

AUSTIN, Texas — The Uvalde police chief who was on vacation during the Robb Elementary School shooting submitted his resignation Tuesday, less than a week after a report ordered by the city defended the department’s response to the attack but outraged some family members of the 19 children and two teachers who were killed.


Uvalde Police Chief Daniel Rodriguez was vacationing in Arizona when a teenage gunman entered a fourth-grade classroom in Uvalde with an AR-style rifle on May 24, 2022. In his resignation statement sent via email by the Uvalde Police Department, Rodriguez said it was time to embrace a new chapter in his career.


“Together we achieved significant progress and milestones, and I take pride in the positive impact we’ve made during my tenure,” Rodriguez said in the statement. He then thanked his colleagues for their dedication to “serving and protecting the community,” as well as city leaders, but did not mention the 2022 shooting or last week’s report.

The resignation is effective April 6.

“The City of Uvalde is grateful to Chief Rodriguez for his 26 years of service to our community and we wish him the best as he pursues new career opportunities,” Mayor Cody Smith said in a statement.


The announcement came hours before the Uvalde City Council was scheduled to meet for the first time since a private investigator hired by the city unveiled a report that acknowledged missteps by police but concluded that local officers did not deserve punishment. Nearly 400 law enforcement agents who were at the scene of the attack, including Uvalde police officers, waited more than an hour after the shooting began to confront the gunman.

A critical incident report by the Department of Justice in January found “cascading failures” in law enforcement’s handling of the massacre. The report specifically mentioned Uvalde Police Lt. Mariano Pargas, who was the acting police chief that day in Rodriguez’s absence.


According to the almost 600-page DOJ report, nearly an hour after the shooter entered the school, Pargas “continued to provide no direction, command or control to personnel.”

The city’s report agreed with that of federal officials regarding a lack of communication between officers command and a response plan, as well as a insufficient officer training.

A criminal investigation into the police response by Uvalde District Attorney Christina Mitchell’s office remains ongoing. A grand jury was summoned earlier this year and some law enforcement officials have already been called to testify.

City officials have accused Mitchell of refusing to provide them with information from other responding law enforcement agencies, citing her office’s ongoing investigation. In December 2022, city leaders sued the local prosecutor over access to records regarding the deadly shooting.


Tensions were high at Uvalde’s specially convened city council meeting Thursday as some city council members quickly spoke out against the findings of the report. Uvalde City Council member Hector Luevano said he found the report insulting.

“”These families deserve more. This community deserves more,” Luevano said, adding he declined to accept the report’s findings.

Uvalde, a town of just over 15,000 residents about 85 miles southwest of San Antonio, remains divided over accountability and the definition of moving forward.

Parents and family members of the 19 children and two teachers killed in the shooting, as well as survivors and their relatives disagreed with the findings in Prado’s report.

During a public comment period at the City Council meeting last week in Uvalde, some speakers questioned why Rodriguez had allowed officers who had waited so long to act to remain on the force.

At least five officers who were on the scene have lost their jobs, including two Department of Public Safety officers and Pete Arredondo, the former school police chief who was the on-site commander. No officers have faced criminal charges.

Uvalde police chief who was on vacation during Robb Elementary shooting resigns

The Uvalde police chief who was on vacation during the Robb Elementary School shooting submitted his resignation Tuesday

torontosun.com

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Another Trump hero brought down by the Deep State!

 

[petros]

Brought down? Did you bother to read it?

What do you see in the pizza sauce stain?

 

[Retired_Can_Soldier]

Brought down? Did you bother to read it?

What do you see in the pizza sauce stain?

View attachment 21435

That, Sir, is the Death Head Moth.

 

[petros]

That, Sir, is the Death Head Moth.

Scruffy cat.

 

[spaminator]

Families of Uvalde school shooting victims suing police over botched response
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Acacia Coronado And Jim Vertuno
Published May 22, 2024 • 4 minute read

AUSTIN, Texas — The families of 19 of the victims in the Uvalde elementary school shooting in Texas on Wednesday announced a $500-million federal lawsuit against nearly 100 state police officers who were part of the botched law enforcement response to one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.


The families said they also agreed to a $2-million settlement with the city, under which city leaders promised higher standards and better training for local police.


The announcement in Uvalde came two days before the two-year anniversary of the massacre. Nineteen fourth-graders and two teachers were killed on May 24, 2022, when a teenage gunman burst into their classroom at Robb Elementary School and began shooting.

The lawsuit, seeking at least $500 million in damages, is the latest of several seeking accountability for the law enforcement response. More than 370 federal, state and local officers converged on the scene, but they waited more than 70 minutes before confronting the shooter.

It is the first lawsuit to be filed after a 600-page Justice Department report was released in January that catalogued “cascading failures” in training, communication, leadership and technology problems that day.


The lawsuit notes that state troopers did not follow their active shooter training or confront the shooter, even as the students and teachers inside were following their own lockdown protocols of turning off lights, locking doors and staying silent.



“The protocols trap teachers and students inside, leaving them fully reliant on law enforcement to respond quickly and effectively,” the families and their attorneys said in a statement.

Terrified students inside the classroom called 911 as agonized parents begged officers — some of whom could hear shots being fired while they stood in a hallway — to go in. A tactical team of officers eventually went into the classroom and killed the shooter.


“Law enforcement’s inaction that day was a complete and absolute betrayal of these families and the sons, daughters and mothers they lost,” said Erin Rogiers, one of the attorneys for the families. “TXDPS had the resources, training and firepower to respond appropriately, and they ignored all of it and failed on every level. These families have not only the right but also the responsibility to demand justice.”

A criminal investigation into the police response by Uvalde District Attorney Christina Mitchell’s office is ongoing. A grand jury was summoned this year, and some law enforcement officials have already been called to testify.

The latest lawsuit against 92 Texas Department of Public Safety officials and troopers also names the Uvalde School District, former Robb Elementary principal Mandy Gutierrez and former Uvalde schools police chief Peter Arredondo as defendants.


The Texas DPS did not respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment Wednesday.

The plaintiffs are the families of 17 children killed and two more who were wounded. A separate lawsuit filed by different plaintiffs in December 2022 against local and state police, the city, and other school and law enforcement, seeks at least $27 billion and class-action status for survivors. And at least two other lawsuits have been filed against Georgia-based gun manufacturer Daniel Defence, which made the AR-style rifle used by the gunman.

The families said the settlement with the city was capped at $2 million because they didn’t want to bankrupt the city where they still live. The settlement will be paid from the city’s insurance coverage.


“The last thing they want to do was inflict financial hardship on their friends and neighbours in this community. Their friends and neighbours didn’t let them down,” Josh Koskoff, one of the attorneys for the families, said during a news conference in Uvalde on Wednesday.

But Javier Cazares, the father of slain nine-year-old Jackie Cazares, noted that the announcement — which was made in the same Uvalde Civic Center where the families gathered to be told their children were dead or wounded — was sparsely attended.

“On the way over here, I saw the sticker, which I see everywhere, ‘Uvalde Strong.’ If that was the case, this room should be filled, and then some. Show your support. It’s been an unbearable two years. … No amount of money is worth the lives of our children. Justice and accountability has always been my main concern.”


Under the settlement, the city agreed to a new “fitness for duty” standard and enhanced training for Uvalde police officers. It also establishes May 24 as an annual day of remembrance, a permanent memorial in the city plaza, and support for mental-health services for the families and the greater Uvalde area.

The police response to the mass shooting has been criticized and scrutinized by state and federal authorities. A 600-page Justice Department report in January catalogued “cascading failures” in training, communication, leadership and technology problems that day,

Another report commissioned by the city also noted rippling missteps by law enforcement but defended the actions of local police, which sparked anger from victims’ families.

“For two long years, we have languished in pain and without any accountability from the law enforcement agencies and officers who allowed our families to be destroyed that day,” Veronica Luevanos, whose daughter Jailah and nephew Jayce were killed, said Wednesday. “This settlement reflects a first good faith effort, particularly by the City of Uvalde, to begin rebuilding trust in the systems that failed to protect us.”

Families of Uvalde school shooting victims suing police over botched response

The families of 19 of the victims in the Uvalde elementary school shooting in Texas on Wednesday announced a $500-million federal lawsuit.

torontosun.com

 

[Taxslave2]

Nothing like a lawyer on commission.

 

[spaminator]

Uvalde families sue Meta and ’Call of Duty’ maker on 2nd anniversary of school attack
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Jim Vertuno
Published May 24, 2024 • 3 minute read

AUSTIN, Texas — Families in Uvalde took more legal action Friday on the second anniversary of the Robb Elementary School attack, suing Meta Platforms, which owns Instagram, and the maker of the video game “Call of Duty” over claims the companies bear responsibility for products used by the teenage gunman.


They also filed another lawsuit against Daniel Defense, which manufactured the AR-style rifle used in the May 24, 2022, shooting _ and has already been sued.


It added to mounting lawsuits over the attack and came as the small Texas city gathered to mourn the anniversary of one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. The gunman killed 19 students and two teachers officers finally confronted and shot him after waiting more than an hour to enter the fourth-grade classroom.

“There is a direct line between the conduct of these companies and the Uvalde shooting,” said Josh Koskoff, an attorney for the families. “This three-headed monster knowingly exposed him to the weapon, conditioned him to see it as a tool to solve his problems and trained him to use it.”


Some of the same families on Wednesday filed a $500 million lawsuit against Texas state police officials and officers who were part of the botched law enforcement response that day. More than 370 federal, state and local officers responded but waited more than an hour to confront the shooter inside the classroom as students and teaches lay dead, dying or wounded.

Friday’s lawsuits are not the first to accuse technology companies of having a role in radicalizing or influencing mass shooters. Families of victims in a May 2022 attack on a Buffalo, New York, supermarket sued social media companies, including Meta and Instagram, over content on their platforms.

The lawsuit against Georgia-based gun-maker Daniel Defense was filed in Texas by the same group of 19 families who sued on Wednesday. The lawsuit against Meta and Activision Blizzard — the maker of “Call of Duty” — were filed in California with additional families of victims from the attack.


Activision called the Uvalde shooting “horrendous and heartbreaking in every way, and we express our deepest sympathies to the families and communities who remain impacted by this senseless act of violence. Millions of people around the world enjoy video games without turning to horrific acts.”

A video game industry trade group also pushed back on blaming games for violence, arguing research has found no link.

“We are saddened and outraged by senseless acts of violence. At the same time, we discourage baseless accusations linking these tragedies to video gameplay, which detract from efforts to focus on the root issues in question and safeguard against future tragedies,” the Entertainment Software Association said.


The amount of damages sought in the new lawsuits was not immediately clear.

According to the lawsuits, the Uvalde shooter had played versions of “Call of Duty” since he was 15, including one that allowed him to effectively practice with the version of the rifle he used at the school. The families also accused Instagram of doing little to enforce its rules rules that ban marketing firearms and harmful content to children.

The Uvalde shooter opened an online account with Daniel Defense before his 18th birthday, and purchased the rifle as soon as he could, according to the lawsuit.

“Simultaneously, on Instagram, the shooter was being courted through explicit, aggressive marketing. In addition to hundreds of images depicting and venerating the thrill of combat, Daniel Defense used Instagram to extol the illegal, murderous use of its weapons,” the families’ attorneys said in a statement.


Daniel Defense and Meta each did not immediately respond to emails requesting comment.

In a congressional hearing in 2022, Daniel Defense CEO Marty Daniels called the Uvalde shooting and others like it “pure evil” and “deeply disturbing.”

A separate lawsuit filed by different plaintiffs in December 2022 against local and state police, the city, and other school and law enforcement, seeks at least $27 billion and class-action status for survivors. At least two other lawsuits have been filed against Daniel Defense.

In Uvalde, community members planned a vigil to remember those killed. Other events included a bell ringing and butterfly release at a local church.

“As we mark this solemn day, may we pray for those we lost, their loved ones, and all those who were wounded,” President Joe Biden said in a letter to the community.

Uvalde families sue Meta and ’Call of Duty’ maker on 2nd anniversary of school attack

Families in Uvalde took more legal action Friday on the second anniversary of the Robb Elementary School attack.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Former Uvalde school police chief and officer indicted over response to massacre, reports say
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Jim Vertuno
Published Jun 27, 2024 • 2 minute read

AUSTIN, Texas — The former Uvalde schools police chief and another former officer have been indicted over their role in the slow police response to the 2022 massacre in a Texas elementary school that left 19 children and two teachers dead, according to multiple reports Thursday.


The Uvalde Leader-News and the San Antonio Express-News reported former schools police Chief Pete Arredondo and former officer Adrian Gonzales were indicted by a grand jury on multiple counts of felony child endangerment and abandonment. The Uvalde Leader-News reported that District Attorney Christina Mitchell confirmed the indictment.

The Austin American-Statesman also reported two former officers had been indicted but did not identify them.

Mitchell did not immediately return messages from The Associated Press seeking comment. Several family members of victims of the shooting did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

The indictments would make Arredondo, who was the on-site commander during the attack, and Gonzales the first officers to face criminal charges in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. A scathing report by Texas lawmakers that examined the police response described Gonzales as one of the first officers to enter the building after the shooting began.


The indictments were kept under seal until the men were in custody, and both were expected to turn themselves in by Friday, the news outlets reported.


The indictments come more than two years after an 18-year-old gunman opened fire in a fourth grade classroom, where he remained for more than 70 minutes before officers confronted and killed him. In total, 376 law enforcement officers massed at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, some waiting in the hallway outside the classroom, even as the gunman could be heard firing an AR-15-style rifle inside.

The officer of a former attorney for Arredondo said they did not know whether the former chief has new representation. The AP could not immediately find a phone number to reach Gonzales.

Arredondo lost his job three months later. Several officers involved were eventually fired, and separate investigations by the Department of Justice and state lawmakers faulted law enforcement with botching their response to the massacre. A 600-page Justice Department report released in January that catalogued “cascading failures” in training, communication, leadership and technology problems that day.

Former Uvalde school police chief and officer indicted over response to massacre, reports say

The former Uvalde schools police chief and a former cop have been indicted over their role in the slow police response to the 2022 massacre

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Indictment accuses former Uvalde schools police chief of delays while shooter was 'hunting' children
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Jim Vertuno
Published Jun 28, 2024 • Last updated 3 days ago • 4 minute read

AUSTIN, Texas — The police chief for schools in Uvalde, Texas, failed to identify an active shooting, did not follow his training and made critical decisions that slowed the law enforcement response to stop a gunman who was “hunting” victims and ultimately killed 21 people at Robb Elementary, according to an indictment unsealed Friday.


Pete Arredondo was arrested and briefly booked into the Uvalde County jail before he was released Thursday night on 10 state jail felony counts of abandoning or endangering a child in the May 24, 2022, attack that killed 19 children and two teachers. Former school officer Adrian Gonzales also was indicted on 29 similar charges, booked into jail Friday, and released on bond, but his indictment was not yet public.

Arredondo and Gonzales are the first officers to be criminally charged for the police response to one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history, and the indictments from a Uvalde County grand jury follow two years of calls from some families for such action.

“We began to lose faith in the system. We are happy this has taken place,” said Jesse Rizo, whose niece Jacklyn Cazares was among the students killed.


Rizo added that he would like to see more officers charged. It was unclear Friday whether the grand jury considered indictments against any others.

“They decided to indict only two. That’s hard for me to accept,” Rizo said.

In a statement, an attorney for Gonzales called the charges against law enforcement “unprecedented in the state of Texas.”

“Mr. Gonzales’ position is he did not violate school district policy or state law,” said Nico LaHood, the former district attorney for Bexar County, which includes San Antonio.

The first U.S. law enforcement officer ever tried for allegedly failing to act during an on-campus shooting was a campus sheriff’s deputy in Florida who didn’t go into the classroom building and confront the perpetrator of the 2018 Parkland massacre. The deputy, who was fired, was acquitted of felony neglect last year. A lawsuit by the victims’ families and survivors is pending.


The indictment against Arredondo, who was the on-site commander at the shooting, accused the chief of in delaying the police response despite hearing shots fired and being notified that injured children were in the classrooms and that a teacher had been shot. Arredondo called for a SWAT team, ordered the initial responding officers to leave the building, and attempted to negotiate with the 18-year-old gunman, the indictment said.

“After being advised that a child or children were injured in a class at Robb Elementary School (Arredondo) failed to identify the incident as an active shooter incident and failed to respond as trained to an active shooter incident and instead directed law enforcement officers to evacuate the wing before confronting the shooter thereby delaying the response by law enforcement officers to an active shooter who was hunting and shooting a child or children,” the indictment said.


Arredondo’s actions and inactions amounted to “criminal negligence,” the indictment said.

More than 370 federal, state and local officers converged on Robb Elementary, but they waited more than 70 minutes before confronting the shooter, even as the gunman could be heard firing an AR-15-style rifle. Terrified students inside the classroom called 911 as agonized parents begged officers — some of whom could hear shots being fired while they stood in a hallway — to go in. A tactical team of officers eventually went into the classroom and killed the shooter.

“I want every single person who was in the hallway charged for failure to protect the most innocent,” Velma Duran, whose sister Irma Garcia was one of the teachers killed, said Friday. “My sister put her body in front of those children to protect them, something they could have done. They had the means and the tools to do it. My sister had her body.”


The indictment charges Arredondo with failing to protect survivors of the attack, including Khloie Torres, who called 911 and begged for help, telling a dispatcher, “Please hurry. There’s a lot of dead bodies. Some of my teachers are still alive but they’re shot.”

The charges carry up to two years in jail if convicted. Arredondo does not have a listed phone number and the court clerk had no record of an attorney for him.

In an interview with the Texas Tribune two weeks after the shooting, Arredondo insisted he took the steps he believed would best protect the lives of students and teachers.

“My mind was to get there as fast as possible, eliminate any threats, and protect the students and staff,” he told the newspaper.


Since then, scathing state and federal investigative reports on the police response have catalogued “cascading failures” in training, communication, leadership and technology problems.

Arredondo lost his job three months after the shooting. Several officers involved were eventually fired, and separate investigations by the Department of Justice and state lawmakers alleged law enforcement botched their response to the massacre.

Texas state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde, said the investigation should not stop with the indictments against Arredondo and Gonzales. Gutierrez has been critical of the Texas Department of Public Safety and its head, Steve McCraw. That department had more than 90 officers at the school — more than any other agency — and McCraw testified before the grand jury in February.

“Every single officer that stood down that day must be held accountable,” Gutierrez said. “We can’t rest until we have justice.”

— Associated Press journalist Terry Spencer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., contributed to this report

Indictment accuses former Uvalde schools police chief of delays while shooter was 'hunting' children

Arredondo, who was the on-site commander during the attack, and Gonzales are the first officers to face criminal charges.

torontosun.com

 

[B00Mer]

2060 shooters (been hacked)

 

[spaminator]

Texas trooper gets job back in Uvalde after suspension from botched police response
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Jim Vertuno
Published Aug 05, 2024 • 2 minute read

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Department of Public Safety has reinstated a state trooper who was suspended after the botched law enforcement response to the shooting at a Uvalde elementary school in 2022.


In a letter sent to Texas Ranger Christopher Ryan Kindell on Aug. 2 and released by the agency on Monday, DPS Director Col. Steve McCraw removed the officer’s suspension status and restored him to his job in Uvalde County.

McCraw’s letter said the local district attorney had requested Kindell be returned to his job, and noted he had not been charged by a local grand jury that reviewed the police response.

Nineteen students and two teachers were killed in the May 24, 2022, attack on Robb Elementary School, making it one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.

Nearly 400 officers waited more than an hour before confronting the shooter in the classroom, while injured students inside texted and call 911 begging for help and parents outside pleaded for them to go in.


Kindell was initially suspended in January 2023 when McCraw’s termination letter said the ranger’s action “did not conform to department standards” and that he should have recognized it was an active shooter situation, not one involving a barricaded subject.

Scathing state and federal investigative reports on the police response have catalogued “cascading failures” in training, communication, leadership and technology problems.


Kindell was one of the few DPS officers disciplined. Later, another who was informed he would be fired decided to retire, and another officer resigned.

Only two of the responding officers from that day, both formerly with the Uvalde schools police department, face criminal charges. Former Uvalde schools police chief Pete Arredondo and officer Adrian Gonzales were indicted in June on charges of child endangerment and abandonment. Both pleaded not guilty in July.


In his reinstatement letter, McCraw wrote that Kindell was initially suspended after the agency’s internal investigation.

But now, McCraw said he had been told by Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell that a grand jury had reviewed the actions of all officers who responded to the attack, and “no action was taken on officers employed by the Texas Department of Public Safety.”

“Further, she has requested that you be reinstated to your former position,” McCraw wrote.

Mitchell did not respond to email requests for comment. It was not immediately clear if Kindell has an attorney.

Families of the victims in the south Texas town of about 15,000 people about 80 miles (130 kilometers) west of San Antonio, have long sought accountability for the slow police response that day. Some of the families have called for more officers to be charged.

Several families of Uvalde victims have filed federal and state lawsuits against law enforcement, social media and online gaming companies, and the gun manufacturer that made the rifle the gunman used.

Texas trooper gets job back in Uvalde after suspension from botched police response

The Texas DPS has reinstated a trooper who was suspended after the botched law enforcement response to the shooting at a Uvalde school

torontosun.com

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Cowards gonna cower.

 

[spaminator]

Former Uvalde schools police chief says he’s being ’scapegoated’ over response to mass shooting
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Jim Vertuno And Nadia Lathan
Published Aug 08, 2024 • 3 minute read

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The former police chief of the Uvalde school district said he thinks he’s been “scapegoated” as the one to blame for the botched law enforcement response to the Robb Elementary School shooting, when hundreds of officers waited more than an hour to confront the gunman even as children were lying dead and wounded inside adjoining classrooms.


Pete Arredondo and another former district police officer are the only two people to have been charged over their actions that day, even though nearly 400 local, state and federal officers responded to the scene and waited as children called 911 and parents begged the officers to go in.

“I’ve been scapegoated from the very beginning,” Arredondo told CNN during an interview that aired Wednesday. The sit-down marked his first public statements in two years about the May 24, 2022, attack that killed 19 students and two teachers, making it one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.

Within days after shooting, Col. Steve McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, identified Arredondo as the “incident commander” of a law enforcement response that included nearly 100 state troopers and officers from the Border Patrol. Even with the massive law enforcement presence, officers waited more than 70 minutes to breach the classroom door and kill the shooter.


Scathing state and federal investigative reports about the police response catalogued “cascading failures” in training, communication, leadership and technology problems.

A grand jury indicted Arredondo and former Uvalde schools police Officer Adrian Gonzales last month on multiple charges of child endangerment and abandonment. They pleaded not guilty.

The indictment against Arredondo contends that he didn’t follow his active shooter training and made critical decisions that slowed the police response while the gunman was “hunting” victims.

Arredondo told CNN that the narrative that he is responsible for the police response that day and ignored his training is based on “lies and deception.”

“If you look at the bodycam footage, there was no hesitation _ there was no hesitation in myself and the first handful of officers that went in there and went straight into the hot zone, as you may call it, and took fire,” Arredondo said, noting that footage also shows he wasn’t wearing a protective vest as officers inside the school pondered what to do.


Despite being cast as the incident commander, Arredondo said state police should have set up a command post outside and taken control.

“The guidebook tells you the incident commander does not stand in the hallway and get shot at,” Arredondo. “The incident commander is someone who is not in the hot zone.”

The Texas Department of Public Safety, which oversees the state police and other statewide law enforcement agencies, and Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell did not respond to requests for comment.

Javier Cazares, whose daughter Jacklyn Cazares was one of the students killed, criticized Arredondo’s comments.

“I don’t understand his feeling that there was no wrongdoing. He heard the shots. There’s no excuse for not going in,” Cazares told The Associated Press on Thursday. “There were children. Shots were fired. Kids were calling, and he didn’t do anything.”

Arredondo refused to watch video clips of the police response.

“I’ve kept myself from that. It’s difficult for me to see that. These are my children, too,” he told CNN. He also said it wasn’t until several days after the attack that he heard there were children who were still alive in the classroom and calling 911 for help while officers waited outside.

When asked if he thought he made mistakes that day, Arredondo said, “It’s a hindsight statement. You can think all day and second guess yourself. … I know we did the best we could with what he had.”

Former Uvalde schools police chief says he’s being ’scapegoated’ over response to mass shooting

"I've been scapegoated from the very beginning," Arredondo told CNN during an interview that aired Wednesday.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Student calls 911 from Uvalde school during mass shooting
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Jamie Stengle
Published Aug 10, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 5 minute read

DALLAS — As law enforcement officers hung back outside Khloie Torres’ fourth-grade classroom in Uvalde, Texas, she begged for help in a series of 911 calls, whispering into the phone that there were “a lot” of bodies and telling the operator: “Please, I don’t want to die. My teacher is dead. Oh, my God.”


At one point, the dispatcher asks Khloie if there are many people in the room with her.

“No, it’s just me and a couple of friends. A lot of people are,” she says, pausing briefly, “gone.”

Calls from Khloie and others, along with body camera footage and surveillance videos from the May 24, 2022, shooting at Robb Elementary School, were included in a massive collection of audio and video recordings released by Uvalde city officials on Saturday after a prolonged legal fight.

The Associated Press and other news organizations brought a lawsuit after the officials initially refused to publicly release the information. The massacre, which left 19 students and two teachers dead, was one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history.


The delayed law enforcement response to the shooting has been widely condemned as a massive failure: Nearly 400 officers waited more than 70 minutes before confronting the gunman in a classroom filled with dead and wounded children and teachers. Families of the victims have long sought accountability for the slow police response in the South Texas city of about 15,000 people 80 miles (130 kilometres) west of San Antonio.

Brett Cross’ 10-year-old nephew, Uziyah Garcia, was among those killed. Cross, who was raising the boy as a son, was angered that relatives weren’t told the records were being released and that it took so long for them to be made public.

“If we thought we could get anything we wanted, we’d ask for a time machine to go back … and save our children, but we can’t, so all we are asking for is for justice, accountability and transparency, and they refuse to give this to us,” he said.



Jesse Rizo, whose 9-year-old niece Jacklyn Cazares was killed in the shooting, said the release of information Saturday reignited festering anger because it shows “the waiting and waiting and waiting” of law enforcement.

“Perhaps if they were to have breached earlier, they would have saved some lives, including my niece’s,” he said.

The police response included nearly 150 U.S. Border Patrol agents and 91 state police officials, as well as school and city police. While terrified students and teachers called 911 from inside classrooms, dozens of officers stood in the hallway trying to figure out what to do. Desperate parents who had gathered outside the building pleaded with them to go in.

The gunman, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, entered the school at 11:33 a.m., first opening fire from the hallway, then going into two adjoining fourth-grade classrooms. The first responding officers arrived at the school minutes later. They approached the classrooms, but then retreated as Ramos opened fire.


At 12:06 p.m., much of the radio traffic from the Uvalde Police Department was still focused on setting up a perimeter around the school and controlling traffic in the area, as well as the logistics of keeping track of those who safely evacuated the building. They’ve had trouble setting up a command post, one officer tells his colleagues, “because we need the bodies to keep the parents out.”

“They’re trying to push in,” he says.

At 12:16 p.m., someone with the Texas Department of Public Safety, the state law enforcement agency, called police to let them know a SWAT team was en route from Austin, about 162 miles (100 kilometres) away. She asked for any information the police could give about the shooting, the suspect and the police response.


“Do you have a command post? Or where do you need our officers to go?” the caller asks.

The police representative responds that officers know there are several dead students inside the elementary school and others still hiding. Some of the survivors have been evacuated to a building nearby. She doesn’t know if a command post has been set up.

At 12:50 p.m., a tactical team enters one of the classrooms and fatally shoots Ramos.

Among criticisms included in a U.S. Justice Department report released earlier this year was that there was “no urgency” in establishing a command centre, creating confusion among police about who was in charge.

Multiple federal and state investigations have laid bare cascading problems in law enforcement training, communication, leadership and technology, and questioned whether officers prioritized their own lives over those of children and teachers.


Some of the 911 calls released were from terrified instructors. One described “a lot, a whole lot of gunshots,” while another sobbed into the phone as a dispatcher urged her to stay quiet. “Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry!” the first teacher cried before hanging up.

Just before arriving at the school, Ramos shot and wounded his grandmother at her home. He then took a pickup from the home and drove to the school.

Ramos’ distraught uncle made several 911 calls begging to be put through so he could try to get his nephew to stop shooting.

“Everything I tell him, he does listen to me,” Armando Ramos said. “Maybe he could stand down or do something to turn himself in,” he added, his voice cracking.

He said his nephew, who had been with him at his house the night before, stayed with him in his bedroom all night, and told him that he was upset because his grandmother was “bugging” him.


“Oh my God, please, please, don’t do nothing stupid,” the man says on the call. “I think he’s shooting kids.”

But the offer arrived too late, coming just around the time that the shooting had ended and law enforcement officers killed Salvador Ramos.

Two of the responding officers now face criminal charges. Former Uvalde school Police Chief Pete Arredondo and former school officer Adrian Gonzales have pleaded not guilty to multiple charges of child abandonment and endangerment. A Texas state trooper in Uvalde who had been suspended was reinstated to his job earlier this month.

In an interview this week with CNN, Arredondo said he thinks he’s been “scapegoated” as the one to blame for the botched law enforcement response.

Some of the families have called for more officers to be charged and filed federal and state lawsuits against law enforcement, social media, online gaming companies, and the gun manufacturer that made the rifle the gunman used.

— Associated Press journalists Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho; Anthony Izaguirre in Albany, New York; Jim Vertuno in Austin; David Fischer in Miami; Gabe Stern in Reno, Nevada; and Michael Balsamo and Julie Walker in New York contributed to this report.

'I DON'T WANT TO DIE': Student calls 911 from Uvalde school during mass shooting

As police officers hung back outside Khloie Torres’ fourth-grade classroom in Uvalde, Texas, she begged for help in a series of 911 calls.

torontosun.com

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Now, now. . . don't scapegoat.