New surveillance footage of police officers responding to the Uvalde school massacre has sparked scrutiny online.
In the video, obtained by KVUE TV, officers can be seen waiting outside the Texas elementary school classrooms for 77 minutes while the gunman fired at students and teachers inside, per The Independent.
Nineteen children and two teachers were murdered in the horrific attack on May 24, 2022.
Unsurprisingly, people have been angered by the security footage from the day, which was released by the American-Statesman on Tuesday.
In the video - which was lightly edited to remove the sound of children screaming in the background - officers can be seen standing in the corridor of Robb Elementary school for over an hour before they storm the classroom in which the gunman had barricaded himself.
Particular fury has been caused by two officers, one of whom can be clearly seen checking his phone, and the other of whom pauses to sanitize his hands.
The Independent reports how more than 100 rounds were fired inside the classroom, with the footage showing officers retreating down the hall at one point.
Speaking to CNN's New Day on Wednesday, Uvalde County Commissioner Ronald Garza said of the officers in the footage: "They just didn't act. They just didn't move."
"I just don't know what was going through those policemen's minds that tragic day, but ... there was just no action on their part," Garza added.
Over on Twitter, the response to the footage has also drawn criticism.
"I can't describe how furious this video made me. FULL GEAR these cowards had 20 minutes has after gunman was inside, ALSO notice the guy getting hand sanitizer BEFORE gunman is killed," one person tweeted.
"The cops are literally hiding behind each other - Doing absolutely NOTHING to rescue those kids or anyone in the school during this horrifying time," another outraged user wrote, adding: "Every single one of those cops at the end of this video standing in that hall deserve to be charged with negligence!"
Another asked: "How can they sleep at night?"
Per CNN, officials have strongly criticized the leaking of the footage - which was originally released by the Austin American-Statesman, along with TV partner KVUE.
The chairman of the state House Investigative Committee, state Rep. Dustin Burrows tweeted in response: "While I am glad that a small portion is now available for the public, I do believe watching the entire segment of law enforcement's response, or lack thereof, is also important."
Burrows added: "I am also disappointed the victim's families and the Uvalde community's requests to watch the video first, and not have certain images and audio of the violence, were not achieved."
Parents of the victims have also slammed the leaking of the footage, with Felicia Martinez - the mother of Xavier James Lopez - saying on Tuesday: We want justice for our kids [...] We're the parents who lost our children. We were supposed to do this together first - not for the world.
"We're suffering - and I know the world is suffering too - but these were our babies, our babies who were taken from us. So to the person who leaked it: Screw you."
Watch the parents of the Uvalde victims speak out below:Our thoughts continue to go out to everybody affected by this tragedy.
