The Department of Justice will look into the police reaction to the school mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 students and two adults dead earlier this week.
Anthony Coley, a spokesman for the US Department of Justice, issued the following statement today.
“At the request of Mayor Don McLaughlin of Uvalde, the US. “On May 24, the Department of Justice will conduct a Critical Incident Review of law enforcement’s response to the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas,” the DOJ announced.
The review’s purpose is to offer an unbiased assessment of law enforcement’s actions and responses on that day, as well as to identify lessons learned and best practices to aid first responders in preparing for and responding to active shooter situations. The Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing will conduct the review.
Uvalde police have already come under fire, not only for failing to stop the gunman, but also for preventing distraught parents from acting in an attempt to save their children.
At least one parent of a Robb Elementary School kid was reportedly tased while attempting to enter the school. During the active shooter incident, Angeli Rose Gomez, mother of a second and third grader at Robb Elementary, stated the cops were merely waiting outside the fence. She stated that they were not going in or running anyplace.
After a few moments, the U.S. Marshals placed her in handcuffs and informed her that she was being detained for interfering with an ongoing investigation.
Police tackled a father and threw him to the ground, according to Gomez, while another dad was pepper-sprayed. She claimed she witnessed officers using a stun gun on a father to prevent him from approaching the school.
In an interview afterwards, a lieutenant with the Texas Department of Public Safety said that the policemen hesitated to act sooner because they may have been shot.
