Border Patrol response to Uvalde school shooting marred by breakdowns and poor training, report says

US Border Patrol agents who rushed to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in May 2022 failed to establish command at the scene and had insufficient training to deal with what became one of the nation’s deadliest classroom attacks, according to a federal report released Thursday.

US Border Patrol agents who rushed to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in May 2022 failed to establish command at the scene and had insufficient training to deal with what became one of the nation’s deadliest classroom attacks, according to a federal report released Thursday. The review by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Professional Responsibility is the first to specifically scrutinize the actions of the 188 Border Patrol agents who gathered at Robb Elementary School, more than any other law enforcement entity. A teenage gunman with an AR-style rifle killed 19 students and two teachers inside a fourth-grade classroom before a group led by a Border Patrol tactical team entered the room and fatally shot him, according to investigators. Since the shooting, Border Patrol has largely not faced the same sharp criticism as Texas state troopers and local police over the failure to confront the shooter sooner. The gunman was inside the South Texas classroom for more than 70 minutes while a growing number of police, state troopers and federal agents remained outside in the hallways. Two Uvalde school police officers accused of failing to act were indicted this summer and have pleaded not guilty. Families of the victims have long sought accountability for the slow police response in the South Texas city. Over 90 state police officials were at the scene, as well as school and city police. 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.