Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin rejected a recent claim that law enforcement missed an early opportunity to thwart the Robb Elementary School shooter.
McLaughlin dismissed a recent report’s finding that a Uvalde police officer requested permission to shoot the alleged gunman before he entered the school but held fire because he did not receive permission in time. The mayor blasted the findings as a “premature release of piecemeal information” and decried it as a “disservice” to those affected by the massacre.
“No Uvalde police department officer saw the shooter on May 24 prior to him entering the school. No Uvalde police officers had any opportunity to take a shot at the gunman,” he said. “A Uvalde Police Department officer saw someone outside but was unsure of who he saw and observed children in the area as well. Ultimately, it was a coach with children on the playground, not the shooter.”
REPORT HIGHLIGHTS THREE MISSED CHANCES TO THWART UVALDE GUNMAN BEFORE SCHOOL ENTRY
But the report, released Wednesday by the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center at Texas State University, claimed an officer had eyes on the suspect before he entered the school.
“A Uvalde PD officer reported that he was at the crash site and observed the suspect carrying a rifle prior to the suspect entering the west hall exterior door,” the report says. “The UPD officer did not hear a response and turned to get confirmation from his supervisor,” the report had said. “When he turned back to address the suspect, the suspect had already entered.”
Pete Blair, executive director of ALERRT, stood by the report, arguing it was well sourced in laying out its findings.
“Ultimately, the decision to use deadly force always lies with the officer who will use the force,” Blair said, per CNN. “If the officer was not confident that he could both hit his target and of his backdrop if he missed, he should not have.”
Prior to reaching the school, the gunman shot his grandmother, smashed a car near the school, and unleashed gunfire outside near the school, police said. This alerted police to the gunman before he breached the school building.
The failure to give approval for the police officer to shoot the gunman was one of three missed opportunities highlighted in the report. The other two included a failure to lock an exterior door in the school and an instance in which a police officer sped past the gunman while driving toward the school, the report said.
The report stemmed from surveillance footage, radio logs, testimony, and accounts from law enforcement, ALERRT said.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
ALERRT cautioned that its report should not be considered the “definitive or final report as all investigatory options have not been exhausted,” and the mayor said additional information about the school shooting should only be released after the investigations into the shooting are finalized.
Uvalde officials have attracted scrutiny for their handling of the May shooting, which left 19 schoolchildren and two adults, as well as the suspect, dead.
