The recent breaking news out of Uvalde, Texas, of two indictments related to the Robb Elementary School shooting on May 24, 2022, seems like too little too late. Former Uvalde schools police Chief Pete Arredondo, and former Officer Adrain Gonzales were indicted on June 26 by a Uvalde County grand jury on multiple counts of child endangerment and abandonment over their actions and failure to immediately confront the shooter. They were the first of nearly 400 federal, state and local officers that converged on the school that day.
I don’t know how anyone can wrap their head around the horrific tragedy. The gunman who entered an unlocked door of the school and began the carnage is responsible for the mass murders. His actions represent the epitome of evil.
However, the ineptness of officers from Uvalde police, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Texas Department of Public Safety also contributed to the number of losses. They were identified as public protection officials that rushed to the school and then waited 77 minutes before breaching a classroom and killing the gunman. The gunman killed 19 students and 2 teachers.
Reportedly, the “most significant failure” was when the officers who arrived treated the gunman as a barricaded subject, and not an active shooter. Allegedly, based on months of investigations, the protocols and training associated to an active shooter situation were not followed.
Of course, bringing folks to justice will never fill the void in the lives of families who are painfully aware each morning when they awaken that something precious and irreplaceable was taken from them. Envision if you will, how you would feel if you were one of those parents, a family member or a friend
I can’t begin to imagine how the families of the victims work through their grief with the knowledge that some of the deaths could possibly have been avoided if law enforcement officials were not cowering inside a room.
At some level, it is human nature to want justice even though it only serves as a band aid to dispel the legitimate anger associated to law enforcement officials not doing their job. The knowledge that some of the victims lay dying or begging for assistance when there was no response leaves a sick sensation in the pit of my stomach.
I suspect that most families still in the midst of heartache and grief resulting from the untimely malicious deaths of their children will believe that two indictments associated to child endangerment and abandonment are too little to late.
My heart goes out to those families and to that entire community.
All My Best!
Don
Carpe Diem 