Justice Department Releases Critical Incident Review of Law Enforcement Response to Robb Elementary School Shooting

Comprehensive Report Provides Detailed Findings and Recommendations

Washington, D.C. – The Justice Department today released a comprehensive report on its critical incident review of the law enforcement response to the tragic school shooting at Robb Elementary School. The review, announced by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland shortly after the tragedy on May 24, 2022, provides a thorough examination of the events leading up to, during, and following the shooting, as well as the emergency medical response, communications, and trauma services.

Key Findings and Observations

The report begins with a minute-by-minute timeline reconstructing key events before, during, and immediately following the shooting. This detailed reconstruction addresses many previously unanswered questions and provides a clearer understanding of the sequence of events.

The report identifies multiple failures in the law enforcement response, including breakdowns in leadership, decision-making, tactics, policy, and training. These failures contributed to the prolonged and inadequate response, which resulted in the tragic loss of life.

Critical Failure: Treating Incident as Barricaded Subject Scenario

A significant finding of the report is that the responding officers failed to treat the incident as an active shooter situation and did not use the available and sufficient resources and equipment to push forward immediately and continuously to eliminate the threat. This failure is considered the most significant contributing factor to the prolonged response.

Although several of the first officers on the scene initially acted consistent with generally accepted practices to try to engage the subject, once they retreated after being met with gunfire, the law enforcement responders began treating the incident as a barricaded subject scenario rather than as an active shooter situation. This decision-making error led to a 77-minute gap between when officers first arrived on the scene and when they finally confronted and killed the subject.

Communications Challenges and Inaccurate Narrative

The report also examines the communications challenges during and after the shooting, including the inaccurate narrative that was initially delivered. The report highlights the need for clear and accurate communication both during and after an incident to ensure that the public and families of the victims have accurate information.

Trauma and Support Services

The report documents the trauma and support services that were provided, as well as those that were not provided, to victims, survivors, family members, and responders. The report emphasizes the importance of providing comprehensive and timely support services to those affected by such tragedies.

Recommendations for Improvement

The report includes a series of recommendations to improve future responses to active shooter incidents. These recommendations are based on national standards, generally accepted standards and practices, current research, and the expectations of communities. The recommendations cover a wide range of areas, including:

* Leadership and Incident Command: Establishing clear and effective leadership and incident command structures to ensure a coordinated and timely response.
* Training and Preparedness: Providing law enforcement agencies with regular and comprehensive training on active shooter response tactics, decision-making, and coordination.
* Communications: Developing clear and effective communication plans and protocols to ensure accurate and timely information is shared among responding agencies and with the public.
* Trauma and Support Services: Ensuring that comprehensive and timely support services are provided to victims, survivors, family members, and responders.
* School Safety and Security: Enhancing school safety and security measures to prevent and mitigate the risk of school shootings.

Honoring the Victims and Survivors

Attorney General Garland emphasized the importance of honoring the victims and survivors of the tragedy and working together to prevent such incidents from happening again. He stated, “The victims and survivors of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School deserved better. The law enforcement response at Robb Elementary on May 24th, 2022 — and the response by officials in the hours and days after — was a failure. As a consequence of failed leadership, training, and policies, 33 students and three of their teachers — many of whom had been shot — were trapped in a room with an active shooter for over an hour as law enforcement officials remained outside. We hope to honor the victims and survivors by working together to try to prevent anything like this from happening again, here or anywhere.”

Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta highlighted the commitment to providing a detailed, independent, and authoritative accounting of the events and to identifying lessons learned and recommendations to prevent similar tragedies in the future. She stated, “Uvalde is a community that is healing, and getting clear on the facts is part of healing. As I made clear last April when I came to Uvalde to meet with families and reiterated to them last night, we promised that our report would honor the victims and survivors; provide a detailed, independent, and authoritative accounting of the events; and would not only look backward but would also identify lessons learned and recommendations for other communities to prevent something like this from happening again.”

Director Hugh T. Clements, Jr. of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) emphasized the importance of reports like this in helping law enforcement agencies improve their preparedness and response to active shooter incidents. He stated, “The observations and recommendations in this report are based on national standards, generally accepted standards and practices, current research, and the expectations of communities. Reports like this are critical to law enforcement and, by extension, to the community. As agencies constantly strive to do better and be more fully prepared, detailed observations and recommendations like those within this report are invaluable to agencies planning for the future.”

Extensive Data Collection and Analysis

The critical incident review was conducted by the COPS Office, with the support of leading subject matter experts with a wide variety of relevant experience. The team collected and reviewed more than 14,000 pieces of data and documentation, including policies, training logs, body camera and CCTV video footage, audio recordings, photographs, personnel records, manuals and standard operating procedures, interview transcripts, investigative files and data, and other documents. The team also spent 54 days onsite in Uvalde and conducted over 260 interviews of individuals who either played a role or had important information related to areas of the review.

Availability of Report and Resources

The report is available in both English and Spanish, as well as profiles of the victims and additional resources, on the COPS Office website at cops.usdoj.gov/uvalde.

The report team took great care to be intentional about the words used in the report to convey the facts, observations, and recommendations. Nevertheless, the descriptions may be activating for some readers due to the explanations of this mass casualty incident, including the age of the victims. For resources, including free and confidential emotional support, please visit www.988lifeline.org or call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.