Families meet with Texas House committee following Uvalde shooting
UVALDE, Tx - Families who lost loved ones in the Uvalde school massacre met today with members of the Texas House committee investigating the incident.
Their 77-page report places blame on the shooter and his family, the school, and law enforcement officers who waited in the hallway for more than an hour.
Surveillance video from inside Robb Elementary School shows officers waited 77 minutes before moving in to take out the shooter on May 24.
Now a new report by the texas house committee investigating the shooting found there were 376 officers on-scene--local, state, and federal--lacking clear leadership and basic communications…prioritizing their own safety over saving innocent lives.
The three members of the investigating committee released their findings Sunday in a meeting with families of the victims--19 students and 2 teachers.
Their 77-page report found the shooter fired about 100 rounds in the first three minutes, so it's likely many victims died quickly.
But the report suggests some could have survived if they had not had to wait so long for rescue.
"They're a joke. They've got no business wearing a badge," said Vincent Salazar, a grandfather of one of the victims. Salazar is the grandfather of 4th grader, Layla Salazar.
He got his report but did not stay for the meeting, deeply suspicious of the investigation that has been marred by false statements from public officials.
"Everybody's covering up for everybody else," Salazar later added.
So far, much of the blame has been put on Uvalde school police chief Pete Arredondo for his role as incident commander, but investigators suggested there were plenty of better-trained and better-equipped officers who could have and should have stepped up.
The report also found the school had a culture of complacency when it came to safeguarding those who were inside.
Investigators said multiple witnesses testified that employees often left doors unlocked or used rocks to prop them open.
Regarding the 18-year-old shooter: investigators found he was a high school dropout, had been fired from 2 jobs, and was given the nickname "school shooter" by his friends.
Investigators also found the shooter's family and friends were aware of his desire to acquire guns in the final months of his life. But no one who knew him alerted authorities about his troubling behavior.
