Federal agents entered Uvalde school to kill gunman despite local police initially asking them to wa

[demmiblue]

Source: NBC News

Federal agents entered Uvalde school to kill gunman despite local police initially asking them to wait

Two senior federal law enforcement officials said the federal agents decided after about 30 minutes not to wait any longer and entered the school to find gunman Salvador Ramos.

Federal agents who went to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday to confront a gunman who killed 19 children were told by local police to wait and not enter the school — and then decided after about half an hour to ignore that initial guidance and find the shooter, say two senior federal law enforcement officials.

According to the officials, agents from BORTAC, the Customs and Border Protection tactical unit, and ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrived on the scene between noon and 12:15 p.m. on Tuesday. Local law enforcement asked them to wait, and then instructed HSI agents to help pull children out of the windows.

The BORTAC team, armed with tactical gear, at first did not move toward the gunman. After approximately 30 minutes passed, however, the federal agents opted of their own volition to lead the “stack” of officers inside the school and take down the shooter.

Steven McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said Friday that Peter Arredondo, the chief of police for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, had stopped at least 19 officers from breaking into the school as the gunman opened fire for at least an hour.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/federal-agents-entered-uvalde-school-kill-gunman-local-police-initiall-rcna30941

[madaboutharry]

1. I can't wrap my head around the delay.

I simply can not understand it.

This person who was apparently in charge, what was he waiting for?

[LeftInTX]

17. He was the school cop!

More used to busting kids for pot than dealing with active shooters!

Heck a real cop encounters much more danger at:
Traffic stops
Domestic violence situations
Serving warrants
Other shootings
Dealing with dangerous perps

[ck4829]

36. I know, right?

[csziggy]

39. According to early reports the person in charge deliberately left equipment

In his office. From what I read he intentionally left any tactical gear and communications equipment in his office rather than bringing it with him to the biggest emergency call in the town's history. I read that in the first week after the shootings, don't know if I could find it again.

Got it:

Pete Arredondo, the police chief of the Uvalde school district, also told the Texas Tribune that he intentionally left behind both his police and campus radios before entering Robb Elementary School. An 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two teachers behind a locked classroom door that the chief said was reinforced with a steel jamb and could not be kicked in.

Poor radio communications is among the concerns raised about how police handled the May 24 shooting and why they didn’t confront the gunman for more than an hour, even as anguished parents outside the school urged officers to go in.

Separately, the New York Times reported Thursday that documents show police waited for protective equipment as they delayed entering the campus, even as they became aware that some victims needed medical treatment.

Arredondo told the Tribune that from the hallway of the school he used his cellphone to call for tactical gear, a sniper and keys to get inside the classroom. He said he held back from the door for 40 minutes to avoid provoking gunfire and tried dozens of keys brought to him, but that, one-by-one, they failed to work.

https://www.inquirer.com/news/nation-world/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-police-chief-20220610.html

[Lovie777]

2. Were the police that afraid? ......

[LudwigPastorius]

3. Holy fuck.

It sounds like the local yokel Barney Fife of a police chief was pushing his weight around with the feds instead of doing something about the kids who were bleeding to death.

[Srkdqltr]

4. Barney Fife would have been terrified but he would have done what was necessary.

And had a nervous breakdown afterwards.

[regnaD kciN]

10. Or he would have f'ed it up totally...

…and probably have gotten himself killed, but he wouldn’t have told everyone to do nothing except arrest parents for pleading with them to intervene.

[usaf-vet]

26. Even with only one bullet he would have done something. Every sworn LE officer at that scene should.

... face suspension for failing to protect the kids and teachers.

Texas bravado is plain and clear to see. Talk big and tough until the real job faces them.

[DashOneBravo]

5. Uvalde police chief who delayed officer response to shooting to join City Council

“Peter Arredondo, the chief of police for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, stopped at least 19 officers from breaking into the school as the gunman opened fire for at least an hour.”






https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/uvalde-police-chief-delayed-officer-response-shooting-join-city-counse-rcna30910

[jgmiller]

6. People do dumb things in pressure situations

That's not to excuse their inaction it's just to explain it. He shouldn't be in charge if he can't figure out what to do and his cops shouldn't be cops for the same reason. However I'll say it again, you never know how you're going to react in a situation until it actually happens, sadly this was the wrong time to find out.

What I haven't heard many people report is the obvious takeaway from this. Even if you biy the right wing talking points of lets hire more cops and arm them to the teeth this even has clearly shown that isn't going to always work.

You could make the same argument with Buffalo, there was a highly trained and experienced retired officer who had no problem taking on the gunman and yet he failed because the guy was armoured like robocop.

[regnaD kciN]

11. Send him to Russia...

It sounds like he’s got the same brains and decisiveness we’ve seen from the Russian army in their special military operation.

[PSPS]

15. I see. So "mistakes were made." Got it.

[LeftInTX]

18. He also was a school cop

They have their purpose, but pretty sure he was WAY over his head

[intheflow]

24. Police are trained to respond to situations.

They were trained on active shooter protocols just two months before this happened. One leader forestalling response for AN HOUR while dispatchers handled 911 calls from terrified children should not hav happened. Someone should have remembered their training and called him out on his response. I mean, I'm blown away that the Feds didn't push back on this harder until they'd already been there a half hour. Chain of command is important, but not as important as saving lives. One person making a dumb decision does not begin to explain 20-30 trained people following him blindly.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

32. Sure, you don't know how you will react but that's what training is for.

The Chief isn’t the guy that’s going in so his lack of intestinal fortitude shouldn’t have played a part.

He had a team ready willing and able to breach the door. There’s no excuse for not giving the order. These are guys that train for it repeatedly so muscle memory takes over - that’s what they do.

It’s one thing to not send a regular patrol officer with minimal body armor and maybe a pistol….

But to have a tactical unit with shields, flash bangs and superior training stand around and do nothing for 30 plus minutes is criminal negligence.

[DemocraticPatriot]

7. Despite the "anybody can have a gun" policies, obviously, you are NOT SAFE,

in Texas.

Where were all those "good guys with a gun"? (not including the police)...

They were "hiding in their mother's basement"--- WITH the police.



Unarmed parents had more courage than the lot of them. So much for gun patriots...

[DENVERPOPS]

20. I have noticed a sudden large

increase of TEXAS license plates here in Colorado. (Seriously)

[towerbum]

8. Then why the made up bull-shit from Abbott ?

the court's are going have fun with this !

[PSPS]

16. Indeed. And the bull shit from DPS (state-level) too. This reveals the systemic corruption in texas.

[questionseverything]

9. Thank goodness for the feds on this one

[2naSalit]

13. They have better training for starters.

Barney Fife should have deferred to them immediately.

A catastraphuck of phenomenal proportions on the part of the locals.

[moriah]

12. Cops talk about "risking their lives every day".

And perhaps they do. You never know who one is pulling over.

Still, if they aren't going to risk their lives to protect children -- defenseless, helpless children ranging from babies who were going to be graduating kindergarten to early "tweens", especially -- while they target minorities (consciously or unconsciously), harass and shoot mental health patients when the call was to get them *help*, beat Deaf people because they didn't "obey instructions", but call traffic enforcement "risking their lives"...

Cops are saying they're demoralized by the "defund the police" movement. That people don't like them. Is this fucking cowardice when ones life is *really* on the line, despite having equipment to go in, really going to make people like the police any more than they do?

Are we going to see them as ever acting to save innocent lives, giving them some form of the "respect" they demand, instead of just thinking they do more harm than good?

Fuck, I even like Border Patrol a little better than I ever did after this, and it still pisses me off that they would target two women speaking Spanish on the other side of the fucking *country* from a border with any Spanish-speaking country. They should have been listening for "aboot" or French where they were stationed.

(And yes, the profanity was necessary,.

[2naSalit]

14. +1

[Joinfortmill]

29. You said it.

[llashram]

33. ++

[Withywindle]

46. Hear hear!

Very well said!

[No Vested Interest]

19. Where was the school principal? No mention of the principal's whereabouts the whole time,

and he/she would have known to get the door key and where it was kept.
I guess we'll find out where the school resource officer was. He is entitled to a lunch break, I guess, and maybe that was it.

Why not call the fire department for help? They have breaching equipment and should have better training.
Seems like the whole bunch of them were undertrained and/or incompetent.

[IronLionZion]

21. School cops are not mentally prepared for school shootings, got it

AR-15s are scary and I wouldn't want to face one either.

but BORTAC are trained to take down armed and dangerous drug traffickers, so why stop them?

Are they worried ICE would deport the American born Latino kids?

[usaf-vet]

27. Exactly. If they realy want armed guard in school building. Hire mecenaries, seriuosly!

They know how to face danger kill who needs to be killed and collect a paycheck.

Hiring someone who can score 100 on a gun and move obstacle course proves one thing. They have mastered hitting a non-threatening target. Now see how they perform when someone equally skilled at hitting a target is shooting back at them.

Where are you going to find those skills? Combat vets who chose to become mercenaries.

I would prefer gun control laws that ban AR-15s and other weapons meant for the battlefield. But until the kids mean more to the republicans than the guns it will not happen.

[IronLionZion]

30. I would hope more law enforcement officers support banning these weapons

we should have enough of them to help write the correct language into the laws to make it effective.

[ck4829]

44. Yep, got it

[IronLionZion]

45. Why kick this thread from May?

Back to school time of year?

[LiberalFighter]

22. Why the hell do they have a separate police force for schools?

I was only aware of there being resource officers for schools that were either employed by the school or a division of the local police.

And why the hell was the so called chief of police of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District in charge? That type of incident was beyond his damn pay grade.

[LiberalFighter]

23. Didn't have a key to get in???

If they had a police chief and officers for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District how would they not have a master key?

Waiting for a janitor should not have been necessary.

[Bayard]

25. I can't figure this one either

Blow away the damn door! You don't listen to kids being killed, and arresting their parents, while waiting around for a KEY!

[Novara]

41. I read the door was unlocked

Now it's "reinforced" with a steel bar?

Fucking hell, we can't believe a single thing that comes from any official involved.

[Joinfortmill]

28. I see criminal charges coming and many, many lawsuits.

[USALiberal]

31. I totally doubt criminal but the lawsuits will happen

[ck4829]

42. I hope so, I really do

[LiberalLovinLug]

34. But but but when you view American cop shows and movies its so different!

Its the local cops who defy the Feds and move in anyways. Either way the cops will always do whatever it takes, and one main "star" cop at least will bravely enter and take on the killer. American cops are the bravest in the world, just watch your TV!

[ck4829]

37. LOL

[ck4829]

35. Kick

Last edited Wed Jul 13, 2022, 04:42 AM - Edit history (1)

Cowardice

[karynnj]

38. I wonder if the chief knew the killer's family and wanted to get him out alive

I don't understand the getting kids out through window. It would seem that these were NOT the kids in the attached rooms where the killer was - as there is nothing on his reactions. Getting kids out of most other rooms would make sense as long as they could be out of range of the killer. It would be consistent with their believe that he was "contained".

[GoldandSilver]

40. I wasn't there but

Clearly things did not unwind as practiced and expected. The fact that the hot shots of the Border police felt the need to take matters into their own hands tells a pretty compelling story.

I don’t wish to fault Arredondo, but he failed to meet expectations. Whether or not that judgement it’s realistic or fair is a different issue and will be addressed somewhere down the line. Arredondo didn’t do what people expected but maybe he prevented a horrible situation from turning even worse. I dunno, I was’t there.

I’m mourning with the people of Uvalde. And I grieve along with Mr. Arredondo. I don’t believe he went to work that day with the intention of failing the children and his community.

Hopefully, valuable lessons will be learned. Another school shooting will occur and everything we learn about shooters and responders will be helpful.

[ck4829]

43. Kick