UVALDE, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) — This report was nothing short of scathing.
But while it details the colossal law enforcement and school district breakdowns, it doesn’t address the one thing 21 victims’ families want; accountability.
The father of Uziyah Garcia still hasn’t accepted that his son is gone. “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t wish I could hold him, and tell him I love him.”
He clings to reminders of his 10-year-old’s voice that went silent along with 21 others inside Robb Elementary School on May 24. “I just want a little bit of answers. I think I deserve it.”
Some answers came today in the form of a 77-page report compiled by two state representatives and a judge.
They concluded that responding law enforcement officers failed “…to prioritize the safety of innocent victims over the safety of law enforcement responders” when they waited in a hallway for more than an hour instead of storming the classroom where an 18-year-old with a rifle gunned down two women and 19 children.
The last line of the report was perhaps the most disturbing of all: “…it is plausible that some victims could have survived if they had not had to wait 73 additional minutes for rescue.”
Mary Grace Valencia echoed the feelings of victim’s families who attended a news conference where members of the committee explained their findings.
“I hope they pay,” she said. “I want them to do jail time because they stood there and did nothing. I understand they were scared but if you’re scared, then what are you doing being a cop?”
The report found the Uvalde school district didn’t even follow its own active shooter plan and that “Robb Elementary had recurring problems with maintaining its doors and locks. In particular, the locking mechanism to Room 111 was widely known to be faulty, yet it was not repaired.”
As for the shooter, the investigation found he “…developed sociopathic and violent tendencies…” years earlier but no one reported it at any time — even when he bought two rifles and 2000 rounds of ammo at a gun store where witnesses say he “appeared odd and looked like one of those school shooters.”
Families of victims confronted Uvalde’s mayor this evening.
The town’s leader waited until after the damaging report to finally call for an internal investigation of the police department.
There were 376 law enforcement officers on the scene here that day.
A lot of people here have pointed out here that was more than defended the Alamo.
The investigative committee says it’s time to take these findings and work on making all of Texas 80,000 schools safer.
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