U.S. Justice Department to release report on halting police response to Uvalde school massacre
CTV
A federal report into the halting and haphazard law enforcement response to a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, was scheduled to be released Thursday, reviving scrutiny of the hundreds of officers who responded to the 2022 massacre but waited more than an hour to confront and kill the gunman.
A federal report into the halting and haphazard law enforcement response to a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, was scheduled to be released Thursday, reviving scrutiny of the hundreds of officers who responded to the 2022 massacre but waited more than an hour to confront and kill the gunman.
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.
But it's unclear what new light the U.S. Department of Justice review will shed. 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.
