Independent investigation finds Uvalde cops made 'many failures' during response to deadly shooting

Uvalde police made 'many failures' when responding to a gunman who killed 19 students and two teachers at a school in 2022, an independent investigation has concluded. 

Failures of communication, poor training for live shooter situations, lack of equipment available to officers and delays on breaching the classroom all contributed to the disaster at Robb Elementary School on May 24 2022, Jesse Prado, an Austin-based investigator and former police detective found. 

'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 on Thursday. 

'If they would have had a ballistic shield, it would have been enough to get them to the door.' 

It comes after a bombshell Justice Department report into the shooting released earlier this year found that Uvalde police officers stood outside a classroom for 77 minutes while schoolchildren screamed for 'help' after the gunman opened fire.

Jesse Prado, an Austin-based investigator and former police detective found Uvalde police made 'many failures' on May 24 2022 

The victims of the Uvalde school shooting on May 24, 2022

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the victims 'deserved better,' as he presented the Justice Department's findings to the affected families in Uvalde.

'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,' Garland said at the news conference in January.

The report also found failings in the aftermath, with untrained hospital staff improperly delivering painful news and officials giving families mixed messages and misinformation about victims and survivors. 

One official told waiting families that another bus of survivors was coming, but that was untrue.

Last month several law enforcement officers who responded to the mass shooting were ordered to testify before a grand jury investigating the botched response.

Multiple officers who were on the scene have been subpoenaed for in-person testimony that may result in criminal charges, according to the Austin American-Statesman. 

Members of the Texas Department of Public Safety and local police have been called upon to testify, with grand jurors potentially given the chance to question the officers themselves. 

The grand jury is expected to look at possible criminal charges over the failed response at the school. 

After gunman Salvador Ramos, 18, opened fire inside Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, Uvalde Police came under scrutiny after waiting for 77 minutes as the massacre erupted before confronting the gunman  

The furious relatives of the victims called on their DA Christina Mitchell Busbee (pictured) to bring criminal charges, questioning: 'What more does she need?'

Evadulia Orta, left, and Felicia Martinez, right, and other other family members of shooting victims hold back tears as they hear the scathing report 

Dora Mendoza, right, is hugged by a friend as she leaves a meeting where Attorney General Merrick Garland shared a report on the findings of an investigation into the 2022 school shooting at Robb Elementary School

Police officers walk past a memorial for the shooting victims at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 26, 2022

Parents have pleaded for criminal charges over the response.

'What more does (the DA) need?' Jazmin Cazare, whose sister Jackie was killed in the massacre, questioned last month. 'What more does she possibly need to prosecute or remove these people from their positions of power when they can't do their jobs?' 

Kimberly Rubio, whose daughter Lexi was killed, added that the tragedy should serve as a turning point to change America's lax gun control laws, as it 'began the day an 18-year-old was allowed to buy an AR-15.'

'I hope that the failures end today, and that local officials do what wasn’t done that day, do right by the victims and survivors for Robb Elementary— terminations, criminal prosecutions-- and our state and federal government enact sensible gun laws,' she said.

After gunman Salvador Ramos, 18, burst into Robb Elementary School on the morning of May 24, 2022, the report found that the 'single most critical tactical failure' was that police failed to view the event as 'active.'

From there, it took 77 minutes before the 376 law enforcement officers were able to kill Ramos, only after he fatally shot 21 people across several classrooms.

'The response to the May 24, 2022, mass casualty incident at Robb Elementary School was a failure,' the Justice Department report concluded.

Among the tragic conclusions brought by the report was Attorney General Merrick Garland's admission the lives of the young victims could have been saved had protocols been followed properly - a concession the parents say was a long time coming.

Uvalde school police chief Pete Arredondo was singled out in the new DOJ report for his catastrophic lack of leadership during the mass shooting

City police Lt. Mariano Pargas was singled out in the new DOJ report for his catastrophic lack of leadership during the mass shooting 

Uvalde County Sheriff Ruben Nolasco, left, is comforted by Rep. Ted Cruz. Nolasco was singled out for his catastrophic lack of leadership during the mass shooting 

Victims - both adults and children - were frantically dragged out of bloody classrooms with no stretchers readily available to get them into ambulances.

One teacher was left to die on the walkway, before being covered and moved into an ambulance. Another dead body, pulled out from the school, was placed outside and then left unattended - while a group of police huddled together nearby.

Ambulances took deceased victims to hospital by mistake, others did not secure critically-injured patients on to stretchers properly, and vital blood supplies that were airlifted to the scene went unused - despite being needed.

Injured victims were left stretchered on sidewalks outside Robb Elementary because different medical crews had abruptly taken and commandeered their ambulances.

Kids - struck and grazed by bullets during the onslaught inside their school - were ushered into buses heading to the civic center without being seen by medical staff.

Garland said in a statement: 'The victims and survivors of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School deserved better. The law enforcement response at Robb Elementary on May 24, 2022 - and the response by officials in the hours and days after - was a failure that should not have happened.'

The Justice Department collected more than 14,100 items from the scene for for analysis. This included hours of video, photos, 260 interviews, multiple visits to Uvalde, as well as police policies, procedures, and training.

Federal officials said that their review of the mass shooting was made public 'to provide an independent account of law enforcement actions and responses; identify lessons learned and best practices to help first responders prepare for and respond to active shooter events; and provide a roadmap for community safety and engagement before, during, and after such incidents.'