A 77-page report has exposed how law enforcement officials failed to prevent the devastating school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which left 21 people dead earlier this year.
Released on Sunday (July 17) by a Texas House investigative committee, the report reveals that nearly 400 law enforcement officers were present at the massacre in Robb Elementary School on May 24 2022.
It goes on to blast authorities for "systemic failures and egregious poor decision making" that allowed the shooter to continue killing students while officers waited for over 77 minutes in the school corridors.
"At Robb Elementary, law enforcement responders failed to adhere to their active shooter training, and they failed to prioritize saving the lives of innocent victims over their own safety," the report read, per BuzzFeed News.
"There was an overall lackadaisical approach by law enforcement at the scene. For many, that was because they were given and relied upon inaccurate information. For others, they had enough information to know better," it continued.
The report went on to detail a "void of leadership" among police at the scene, largely due to the fact that critical officers such as Uvalde schools police Chief Pete Arredondo failed to step up. Since the shooting, Arrendondo has been put on administrative leave from his role.
As well as Arredondo, the report blasts the officers from federal and state agencies who similarly failed to take control of the situation when it became clear that local police were out of their depth.
Had more decisive leadership been taken, the report concludes that it is "plausible" many victims might have been saved.
The report also hits out at a "culture of noncompliance" within Robb Elementary, where "school personnel who propped doors open or deliberately circumvented locks."
However, it made sure to emphasize that the real "villain" of the attack was the 18-year-old shooter, and highlighted the lack of response to any of the "many warning signals" he displayed.
According to the report, the gunman was a disturbed teen with a history of suicidal thoughts and an obsession with gory videos who was often called a "school shooter" teasingly online.
It also noted that – as a former Robb Elementary school student – he likely targeted the specific classroom where he himself had been bullied in fourth grade.