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Barely days after 19 elementary school children and two teachers were shot to death by an 18-year old with two AR-15 style assault rifles, questions are swirling about the actions of local law enforcement, supported by video and photos apparently taken by those who were outside Robb Elementary School during the massacre. NCRM has not confirmed the authenticity of the photos or videos posted to social media.
“Frustrated onlookers urged police officers to charge into the Texas elementary school where a gunman’s rampage killed 19 children and two teachers, witnesses said Wednesday, as investigators worked to track the massacre that lasted upwards of 40 minutes and ended when the 18-year-old shooter was killed by a Border Patrol team,” the Associated Press reports.
“Go in there! Go in there!” nearby women shouted at the officers soon after the attack began, said Juan Carranza, 24, who saw the scene from outside his house, across the street from Robb Elementary School in the close-knit town of Uvalde. Carranza said the officers did not go in.
Multiple reports state police waited outside for those 40 minutes, or more, before taking action to neutralize the shooter. During that time, some have noted, it’s possible children who had been shot died of their wounds rather than receiving medical attention.
CNN’s Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto:
\u201cTexas police are saying a lot of things. They\u2019re not saying why it took so long to go into the classroom.\u201d— Jim Sciutto (@Jim Sciutto) 1653565974
Veteran journalist Soledad O’Brien:
\u201cIf these were the reporters\u2019 children they\u2019d be more blunt and less delicate. Why did police wait to rush in? Why did they ignore the pleas from parents\u2014who we see in video begging the police to help their kids? These are not \u2018tough questions\u2019. But journalists are often reluctant\u201d— Soledad O'Brien (@Soledad O'Brien) 1653569646
Indeed, additional reports appear to show not only did police not storm the school, for reasons yet unknown, they appear to have prevented desperate parents from doing anything to help save their children, even using force, including a taser, to stop them. And in one case (below,) from the account of one of the children who survived published by CBS affiliate KENS5, police action may have led to the death of one of the students.
VICE News reports “Texas law enforcement officials are being strangely opaque about what actually happened during the shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas.”
“When asked how much time passed between the gunman arriving at the school and the gunman being killed, Texas’ Director of Public Safety Steve McCraw offered an indefinite response.”
“Forty minutes, an hour,” he said. “But I don’t want to give you a particular timeline.”
VICE adds that “officers ‘were responsible’ for containing the gunman in a classroom, McCraw said. (Spokespersons for the Texas Department of Public Safety had repeatedly told news outlets earlier that the suspect barricaded himself into the classroom and immediately started shooting.)”
NBC News correspondent covering national security and intelligence Ken Dilanian:
\u201cThe Texas officials have glossed over this, but by their account, the gunman was first spotted outside the school by an armed school resource officer who did not fire at him, but instead confronted him and \u201cfollowed him in\u201d to the school. That needs to be explained.\u201d— Ken Dilanian (@Ken Dilanian) 1653503322
Matt Novak, a senior writer at the tech site Gizmodo, posted these tweets:
\u201cThis video make so much more sense now. The cops literally stopped parents from helping their kids.\u201d— Matt Novak (@Matt Novak) 1653532453
\u201cNot only did cops with long guns have their tasers out, ready to stop parents from saving their own children, it looks like the cops have one parent pinned to the ground. \n\nYou can hear one person yell, "what the fuck are you doing to him? Let him up!"\u201d— Matt Novak (@Matt Novak) 1653532453
This one is tragic:
\u201cAt least one additional kid died directly because the cops were incompetent.\n\n\u201cWhen the cops came, the cop said: 'Yell if you need help!' And one of the persons in my class said 'help.' The [shooter] overheard and he came in and shot her," the boy said. https://t.co/T89PC9ljcH\u201d— Matt Novak (@Matt Novak) 1653532453
Sawyer Hackett, a senior advisor to Julián Castro, the former Obama HUD Secretary and former Mayor of San Antonio, Texas, reposted these videos and offers some commentary:
\u201cThis also took place hours after the shooting, and the officer is sharing lots of false information with news networks.\n\nWas he misinformed by local police? Or intentionally spinning the story?\u201d— Sawyer Hackett (@Sawyer Hackett) 1653570363
\u201cThis video is insane.\n\nDozens of cops outside the school as the shooter continues rampage. Parents almost ran inside since police wouldn\u2019t. All of a sudden police are gun shy?\u201d— Sawyer Hackett (@Sawyer Hackett) 1653569017
Even this editor from the right wing website Daily Caller says “it appears the police did everything wrong once the shooter was in the room.”
\u201cPolice reportedly waited for up to an hour before breaching and killing the suspect. This goes against everything police are taught in the post-Columbine world. \n\nBefore Columbine, protocol was to sit and wait assuming it was a hostage situation. Not anymore. (2/8)\u201d— David Hookstead (@David Hookstead) 1653566762
\u201cBreaching a room with multiple windows and a door, again without getting into tactics, is very doable. Why did police not attempt it?\n\nIn close quarters combat done in light (this doesn't apply to night vision and the dark), speed is everything. The fastest guys win. (5/8)\u201d— David Hookstead (@David Hookstead) 1653566762
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Herschel Walker calls for creation of federal agency to monitor Americans’ social media posts to prevent gun violence
May 26, 2022
Herschel Walker, the Republican U.S. Senate nominee from Georgia, is calling on the federal government to create a "Big Brother" type of agency specifically to surveil Americans' social media postings as a way to protect the Second Amendment and reduce gun violence.
The former pro-football hero who has the endorsement of Donald Trump suggested to reporters Thursday that men watching women is one of the reasons for mass shootings, and appeared to brush off violence as a problem that's been happening for much of human history.
“You know Cain killed Abel, you know, and that’s a problem that we have,” he told Fox News. "What we need to do is look into how we can stop those things, you know, they talked about doing a disinformation."
“What about looking at getting a department that can look at young men that’s looking at women that’s looking at their social media?” Walker offered. "What about doing that, looking into things like that? And we can stop that that way. But yet, they want to continue to talk about taking away your constitutional rights."
(The Brennan Center for Justice reports there already are well over a dozen federal agencies that perform some form of social media monitoring.)
“This has been happening for years, and the way we stop it, by putting money into the mental health field, by putting money into other departments rather than departments that want to take away your rights,” he added.
Walker's response to the crisis of gun violence appears more developed than the one he offered to reporters Tuesday, when asked if new gun laws should be passed in the wake off the Uvalde, Texas school massacre.
“What I like to do is see it and everything and stuff,” he said.
Herschel Walker's solution to school shootings involves "a department that can look at young men that's looking at women that's looking at social media." pic.twitter.com/WAi7a4mwgz
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 26, 2022
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A four-judge panel has ruled against former President Donald Trump in his attempt to get out of testifying under oath in a civil lawsuit filed by the New York State Attorney General.
Per The Associated Press, the panel upheld Manhattan Judge Arthur Engoron's ruling from earlier this year that enforced the New York AG's subpoena against the twice-impeached former president.
In their ruling, the judges shot down arguments made by Trump lawyers that he should not be forced to testify in a civil probe while a parallel criminal probe into the same instance was also ongoing.
"The existence of a criminal investigation does not preclude civil discovery of related facts, at which a party may exercise the privilege against self-incrimination," they wrote.
RELATED: 'Trumpism without Trump': MAGA movement may be moving on without ex-president who inspired it
Additionally, the Manhattan District Attorney's criminal investigation into Trump's business practices shut down earlier this year, which means he is no longer facing the threat of criminal prosecution in that particular instance.
The investigation centers on whether the Trump Organization fraudulently misled investors and government officials about a wide range of its property values in an effort to minimize taxes.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
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