ROBB ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MASS SHOOTING

The Day School Children and Their Teachers Became Human Shields

Grief is transitioning into anger as the truth about the Robb Elementary School mass shooting emerges.

Multiple layers of failed opportunities contributed to the mass casualty count in Uvalde, Texas on May 24, 2022.

Robb Elementary School had safety protocols in place. Students and their teachers knew how to respond during a crisis incident that compromised their safety. A resource officer had been hired to ensure the safety of everyone at the school. The local police department was among the first responders who previously received active shooter training. Yet, on this dreadful day, these assurances were not enough.

When an initial call was made through the 911 system about an individual who used a long gun to shoot at two people near a funeral home, Robb Elementary School was not notified to be placed on an immediate lockdown. And this failed communication occurred even though the school was in close proximity to the funeral home.

Around the time of the shooting, a teacher at Robb Elementary School propped an outside door open. The eighteen-year-old male shooter crashed his vehicle near the school and approached the building yielding his gun. After a brief encounter with two police officers in which the shooter caused the officers to receive minor injuries, the male freely entered the building. And the resource officer was not on-site.

The shooter entered two adjoining classrooms and began his carnage. As the active shooter moved between both environments, a few students in these rooms quietly made multiple calls to the police pleading for help. Sadly, help was withheld.

As frantic parents who heard about the active shooting incident gathered outside of the school, they encountered a massive police presence outside of the building. These trained officers engaged in crowd control as they prevented mothers and fathers of the students who were determined to go inside to help from doing so. At the same time, multiple and repetitive gunshots were heard. Distressed and upset parents pleaded, screamed, and cried for the police to go into the building to rescue their babies.

Reports from CNN emerged about one parent being handcuffed who tried to enter the school. Another report from the same news agency interviewed a distraught parent who described how the police threatened to use a taser on another parent. Simultaneously, 19 trained police officers entered the building but waited in the halls. They

waited

for backup and to receive tactical gear from border patrol. Despite the knowledge that two classrooms filled with nine and ten-year-old children and their teachers, they

waited.

Despite the gunfire that they heard coming from these classrooms, they

waited.

And the total wait time was over 70 minutes.

At no time did any of those police officers who were trained to protect and defend and to immediately neutralize an active shooter by killing him respond appropriately. The despicable reality is that they

waited

because the commanding officer, the chief of police, concluded that a barricade situation had ensued. Trained and fully armed police officers allowed an eighteen-year-old evil monstered to brutally kill 19 precious boys and girls and two teachers.

These so-called police officers were too cowardly and too incompetent to enter the classrooms to take down the shooter and protect the children and teachers.

They

waited

for the school janitor to provide a key. At that time, border patrol police entered the classroom and killed the shooter.

What Does This Mean?

Simply stated,

the 19 police officers who waited for backup before entering the classrooms used the children and their teachers as human shields.

These officers valued their safety instead of placing a higher value on the lives of the children and the teachers who were murdered along with all those who were injured. They allowed the victims to protect them.

These officers misrepresented law enforcement and must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.

Now the families of the victims are left to not only navigate grief, they must now deal with all the feelings of anger and betrayal that are beginning to emerge.

This candle is lit to honor 21 lives lost at Robb Elementary School.

Thank you for joining me in honoring these precious victims.

Here is my golden ticket that helps me accomplish my mission.

Dr. Deborah M. Vereen is a retired Teacher and School Administrator. Her website is www.Drdeborahmvereen.com and her YouTube Channel is

Copyright © 2022 Dr. Deborah M. Vereen. All rights reserved.