Texas is reeling once again after another mass shooting rocks the Lone Star State, this time at an elementary school in Uvalde.
As with other examples of such tragedies, there has been an onus placed on reviewing the response of local law enforcement. In this case, local residents already have plenty of concerns regarding the way in which the situation was handled, and they are not afraid of criticizing the police’s allegedly tepid response.
Frustrated onlookers urged police officers to charge into the Texas elementary school where a gunman’s rampage killed 19 children and two teachers, witnesses said Wednesday, as investigators worked to track the massacre that lasted upwards of 40 minutes and ended when the 18-year-old shooter was killed by a Border Patrol team.
“Go in there! Go in there!” nearby women shouted at the officers soon after the attack began, said Juan Carranza, 24, who saw the scene from outside his house, across the street from Robb Elementary School in the close-knit town of Uvalde. Carranza said the officers did not go in.
That’s not all:
Javier Cazares, whose fourth grade daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, was killed in the attack, said he raced to the school when he heard about the shooting, arriving while police were still gathered outside the building.
Upset that police were not moving in, he raised the idea of charging into the school with several other bystanders.
“Let’s just rush in because the cops aren’t doing anything like they are supposed to,” he said. “More could have been done.”
“They were unprepared,” he added.
Twitter users also shared video of police physically restraining parents who were attempting to storm the school when police would not.
This sickens me. It appears that while the shooter was active in the school, a dozen well armed police stood around and restrained the parents from helping. #uvalde https://t.co/zOu22oqibQ
— Doc Lough (lock) 🌻 (@dcloughney) May 26, 2022
Authorities are investigating the police response to the shooting as we speak.
