Police Response in the Uvalde School Shooting

Local police officers waited outside during the massacre that lasted around 40 minutes. Onlookers and those who rushed to the school pleaded for the officers to go into the building, but the officers waited outside. Some bystanders and parents even raised the idea of banding together and rushing into the school because of the police inaction.

Police officers prevented parents and onlookers from entering the building as the police awaited a combat team. Tasers were held ready to use to hold the parents back. View the video here.

The shooter encountered a school district security officer outside the school before entering. There are still conflicting reports on whether the two exchanged gunfire, but the shooter was still able to make it inside, and the officer did not ‘engage.’

The massacre was ended when several members of the Border Patrol tactical team and other agents joined local officers to form a team that went after the gunman. They entered the classroom and took out the barricaded shooter. By then, all of the students and children in the room had been massacred.

This is partly reminiscent of the Parkland shooting in 2018, where an officer stayed outside during the massacre and retreated to a position of safety instead of storming in after the gunman.