The Uvalde Police Department and the Uvalde Independent School District police force are no longer cooperating with the Texas Department of Public Safety’s investigation into the massacre at Robb Elementary School, according to ABC News. The state probe is also examining the response by the department, which has been thoroughly criticized.
According to ABC News, the department stopped cooperating soon after the director of DPS, Col. Steven McCraw, held a news conference where he said the delayed police entry was “the wrong decision” and a deviation from protocol.
“The chief of the Uvalde CISD Police provided an initial interview but has not responded to a request for a follow-up interview with the Texas Rangers that was made two days ago,” a Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman told ABC.
Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District police chief Pete Arredondo reportedly told responding officers not to breach. On top of that, responding units were reportedly not on the same radio channel.
McCraw had previously alluded to a tactical error made by a scene commander, believed to be Arredondo, made a critical mistake by treating the gunman as a “barricaded suspect” as opposed to an active shooter.
“The on-scene commander considered a barricaded subject and that there was time and that there were no more children at risk,” McCraw said at a press conference.
Reporter: "Why was this decision made not to go in and rescue these children?"
Texas DPS Director McCraw: "The on-scene commander considered a barricaded subject and that there was time and that there were no more children at risk. https://t.co/9qES3HBx7P pic.twitter.com/62tLwGs9KT
— Newsmax (@newsmax) May 27, 2022
Multiple 911 calls were made after the now deceased gunman, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, had barricaded himself inside the classroom. One call alleged that at least nine victims were still alive as of 12:16 pm, but law enforcement did not breach for another 40 minutes.
The gunman was eventually taken down by off-duty Border Patrol agents — a number of whom had children who attended the school — who had grown tired of waiting. Ramos had massacred 19 schoolchildren and two teachers by the time he was killed.