Police didn’t rush Uvalde gunman because they feared his AR-15, despite some of them carrying same weapon

During the tragic elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in the spring of 2022, police waited for an hour to enter the classroom and confront the shooter because they were afraid of his AR-15, despite some officers also possessing the same weapon, according to an investigation.

Upon arrival at Robb Elementary School, the first officers deliberated over their next course of action outside the classroom where the shooter, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, was holed up. “What’s the safest way to do this? I’m not trying to get clapped out,” one officer could be heard saying on radio communication obtained by the Texas Tribune.

Reportedly, Ramos fired shots at the officers outside of the classroom, and three of them were grazed in the head. They then retreated outside. Uvalde Police Department Sgt. Daniel Coronado warned the others by stating, “I have a male subject with an AR,” per the Texas news outlet. Officers opted to wait for a Border Patrol SWAT team even though it was based more than 60 miles away.

Ramos killed 19 students and two teachers on May 24, 2022, and injured 17 others. The response of law enforcement to the mass shooting was widely criticised for being inadequate.

Uvalde school district Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who led officers in their response to the shooting on that spring day, was fired in August, three months after the incident. Families of shooting survivors filed a $27 billion lawsuit in December against law enforcement.

“You knew that it was definitely an AR,” Uvalde Police Department Sgt. Donald Page said in an interview with investigators after the shooting. “There was no way of going in. … We had no choice but to wait and try to get something that had better coverage where we could actually stand up to him.”

Other law enforcement officers argued that had they gone into the classroom and confronted Ramos with bullets blazing, it would have led to more deaths.

“Their training doesn’t say sit back and wait. It’s the freaking AR that they’re afraid of,” Jesse Rizo, who lost her 9-year-old niece Jackie Cazares in the shooting, said, according to the Texas-based website.

Investigators are still trying to understand how nearly 400 officers could fail to prevent the extent of the tragedy.