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

U.S. 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.

“The failure of arriving law enforcement personnel to establish identifiable incident management or command and control protocols led to a disorganized response to the Robb Elementary School shooting,” the report stated. “No law enforcement official ever clearly established command at the school during the incident, leading to delays, inaction, and potentially further loss of life.”

A Border Patrol agent who lined up behind other officers who breached the classroom where the shooter was described the scene as “mass confusion.”

“He was surprised by the number of people who responded to the incident and was unsure about who was in charge,” the report states.

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.

A report released by state lawmakers about two months after the shooting found “egregiously poor decision-making” by law enforcement. And among criticisms included in a U.S. Justice Department report released earlier this year was that there was “no urgency” in establishing a command center, creating confusion among police about who was in charge. That report highlighted problems in training, communication, leadership and technology that federal officials said contributed to the crisis lasting far longer than necessary.

While terrified students and teachers called 911 from inside classrooms, dozens of officers stood in the hallway trying to figure out what to do. Desperate parents who had gathered outside the building pleaded with them to go in.

A release last month by the city of a massive collection of audio and video recordings from that day included 911 calls from students inside the classroom. One student who survived can be heard begging for help in a series of 911 calls, whispering into the phone that there were “a lot” of bodies and telling the operator: “Please, I don’t want to die. My teacher is dead. Oh, my God.”

The 18-year-old gunman entered the school at 11:33 a.m., first opening fire from the hallway, then going into two adjoining fourth-grade classrooms. The first responding officers arrived at the school minutes later. They approached the classrooms, but then retreated as the gunman opened fire.

Finally, at 12:50 p.m., a group led by a Border Patrol tactical team entered one of the classrooms and fatally shot the gunman.

Jesse Rizo, whose niece Jacklyn Cazares was one of the students killed, said that while he hadn’t seen the report, he was briefed by family members who had and was disappointed to hear that no one was held accountable in the report.

“We’ve expected certain outcomes after these investigations, and it’s been letdown after letdown,” said Rizo, who is on the Uvalde school board.

Two of the responding officers now face criminal charges. Former Uvalde school Police Chief Pete Arredondo and former school officer Adrian Gonzales have pleaded not guilty to multiple charges of child abandonment and endangerment. A Texas state trooper in Uvalde who was suspended has been reinstated.

Last week, Arredondo asked a judge to throw out the indictment. He has said he should not have been considered the incident commander and has been “scapegoated” into shouldering the blame for law enforcement failures that day.

Uvalde police this week said a staff member was put on paid leave after the department finished an internal investigation into the discovery of additional video following the massive release last month of audio and video recordings.

Victims’ families have filed a $500 million federal lawsuit against law enforcement who responded to the shooting.

By VALERIE GONZALEZ and JAMIE STENGLE
Associated Press