Briefing on DOJ report of Uvalde shooting
(NBC) - Attorney General Merrick Garland says the loved one of those killed in the Uvalde shooting, "deserved better," after the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a report calling the response to that shooting a "Failure."
The Department of Justice has released its report on the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
In a briefing on the report Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland made it clear that the police response was a "Failure."
He called for better training for police, better coordination between departments responding to mass shootings, and gun control that would make it harder to get the kind of firearm used in the shooting.
"I told the families gathered last night, what I hope is clear among the hundreds of pages and thousands of details in this report, their loved ones deserve a better… The law enforcement response at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022. And in the hours and days after was a failure that should not have happened," stated U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.
"As a consequence of failed leadership, training and policies, injured and scared students and teachers remained trapped with a subject in the classrooms, waiting to be rescued," said Garland.
"Many officers reported that they did not know who if anyone was in charge. What they should do, or the status of the incident," explained Garland.
"The massacre at Robb Elementary shattered families throughout this community devastated our country and devastated our country. 19 children and two teachers were killed," stated Garland.
"Within minutes of arriving inside the school officials on scene transitioned from treating scene as an active shooter situation to treating the shooter as a barricaded subject. This was the most significant failure," said Garland.
"Surviving victims, some with bullet wounds and other injuries were put on buses without being brought to the attention of medics. Some families were told that their family members had survived when they had not. And victims families and community members struggled for receiving timely and accurate information about what had occurred at Robb Elementary," said Garland.
"I think the report concludes that had enforcement agencies following generally accepted practices in an active shooter situation, and gone right after the shooter to stop him lives would have been saved and people would have survived," explained Garland.
"Our children deserve better than to grow up in a country where an 18-year-old has easy access to a weapon that belongs on the battlefield. Not in a classroom," stated Garland.
19 students and two adults were killed in the 2022 mass shooting.
The DOJ report did not broach the topic of possible criminal charges related to the response.
