There will be a public review into law enforcement’s response to the school shooting in Texas which left 19 students and two teachers dead.
The US Justice Department said today that the findings of the review will be made public, after reports that officers took too long to respond and try and stop the attacker.
Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said the review would be conducted in a fair, impartial and independent manner and that the findings would be made public.
It follows mounting pressure and questions about what happened last Tuesday at Robb Elementary School and how police responded.
The review is being conducted at the request of Uvalde’s mayor, officials said.
In a statement, Mr Coley said the goal of the review is ‘to provide an independent account of law enforcement actions and response that day, and to identify lessons learned and best practices to help first responders prepare for and respond to active shooter events’.
Handling the review is the department’s Office of Community Policing Services.
It was not immediately clear how the review would be conducted, whether law enforcement officials could be compelled to cooperate in the review and when it might be completed.
Such a review is somewhat rare and most after-action reports that come after a mass shooting are generally compiled by local law enforcement agencies or outside groups.
Heartbreaking video shared last week showed how frustrated onlookers begged police to charge into the elementary school.
But police reportedly stood by for at least 40 minutes as the mass tragedy unfolded inside a fourth grade classroom.
Footage shows how parents and onlookers shouted at police officers who were standing outside the building.
One father, who would later learn his own daughter had been killed, rushed to the school when he heard about the shooting.
He arrived as police were still gathered outside the building.
Upset with their lack of action, Javier Cazares raised the idea of charging into the school himself.
‘Let’s just rush in because the cops aren’t doing anything like they are supposed to,’ Cazares said. ‘More could have been done.’
‘They were unprepared,’ the father added.
His daughter, fourth grade student Jacklyn Cazares, was one of 19 children killed in the attack.
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