Dramatic police body camera video from the Uvalde school shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers in May shows multiple officers expressing confusion and doubt over the delay in moving in on the shooter.
“People are gonna ask why we’re taking so long,” an off-camera officer can be heardsaying at one point, roughly an hour after officers first entered the Robb Elementary School on May 24.
But despite a clear sense of urgency, in the end, it would take law enforcement more than an hour to take down the gunman in a police response that has been heavily criticized.
A scathing preliminary report by the Texas House committee investigating the mass shooting released Sunday found “systemic failure and egregiously poor decision making” by law enforcement and the school district.
Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin also announced Sunday that Uvalde’s acting chief of police, Lt. Mariano Pargas, has been placed on leave as a city launched an investigation of his response, as well as that of his officers.
In the string of body camera videos released by the Uvalde Police Department, officers can be seen smashing windows and helping children escape the deadly attack.
In one video captured early on in the police response to the massacre, shots can be heard ringing out inside the school.
