United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers who attended the scene of the deadly Uvalde school shooting did not know who was in charge at the scene and were poorly training, according to an official investigation.
However, families have said they feel “let down” by investigators who concluded that CBP agents did not violate any rules.
The report, released Thursday, recommended no disciplinary action, despite widespread criticism of the actions of law enforcement officers in the aftermath of the May 2022 tragedy.
A teenage gunman armed with an AR-style rifle fatally shot 19 students and two teachers in a fourth-grade classroom at Robb Elementary School.
The shooter remained in the classroom for over 70 minutes when a group of officers led by a Border Patrol tactical team entered the room and fatally shot him.
Families hug outside the Willie de Leon Civic Center after a teenage gunman killed 18 young children in a shooting at an elementary school in Texas on Tuesday, in the deadliest US school shooting in years. United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers who rushed to the scene of the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting in May 2022 failed to establish command and lacked sufficient training to handle one of the deadliest classroom attacks in U.S. history, according to a federal report released Thursday.
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A Border Patrol agent who positioned himself behind other officers breaching the shooter’s classroom described the scene as one of “mass confusion.”
According to the report, “He was surprised by the large number of responders and uncertain about who was in charge.”
The families of 19 victims reached a $2 million settlement in May with the city and county of Uvalde, including a promise from officials to reform the Uvalde Police Department.
The CBP report noted that law enforcement officials failed to establish an identifiable incident command and control framework, resulting in delays, inaction, and potential further loss of life, the report said.
The approximately 200-page report from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Professional Responsibility stops short of assigning overall blame for the delayed police response at Robb Elementary School.
Nearly 200 U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers participated in the response to the deadly school shooting, more than any other law enforcement agency.
Mementos decorate a makeshift memorial to the victims of a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on June 30, 2022. – Nineteen young children and two teachers were killed when a teenage gunman went on a rampage at Robb Elementary on May 24 in America’s worst school shooting in a decade.
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“The active shooter incident at Robb Elementary School was a profound tragedy and deeply traumatic event. The loss of innocent lives and the enduring emotional scars borne by the survivors, families, community, and first responders are immeasurable,” said CBP Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Commissioner Troy A. Miller.
“As our report indicates, we are committed to and working with our federal, state, and local partners to ensure that our brave officers and agents have effective training, policy guidance, equipment, and legal authority to respond to critical incidents.”
The investigation into the CBP response was conducted by the CBP Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), which reviewed thousands of hours of footage and conducted over 200 interviews.
The OPR was established with expanded authority to investigate misconduct and mismanagement involving CBP employees.
“The failure of arriving law enforcement personnel to establish identifiable incident management or command and control protocols led to a disorganized response to the Robb Elementary School shooting,” the report stated.
“No law enforcement official ever clearly established command at the school during the incident, leading to delays, inaction, and potentially further loss of life.”
Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that investigators “concluded none of the CBP personnel operating at the scene were found to have violated any rule, regulation, or law, and no CBP personnel were referred for disciplinary action.”
Jesse Rizo, whose niece Jacklyn Cazares was one of the students killed, expressed disappointment after learning from family members about the report, which he has not yet seen, noting that it failed to hold anyone accountable.
“We’ve been anticipating certain outcomes from these investigations, but it’s been one letdown after another,” Rizo, a member of Uvalde’s school board, told AP.
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