Active Shooter Uvalde TX Elementary School

[farscott]

It may not be directly applicable to the incident, but it appears 281 LEO from at least four different agencies (local, state, and federal) responded. It is unlikely that all of those people had ever worked together before that day. I even wonder how effectively information could be communicated. But the real issue with ad hoc teams of that size is that because everyone is responsible the reality is no one takes responsibility. This behavior is well documented in business operations. The team size tends to diminish initiative because all of the people doing nothing must have a good reason for doing so. So I am not surprised that the majority of officers did not engage.

[eric0311]

This event highlighted the failures of the Uvalde Police Department, as well as all of the agencies who responded... namely failure to train on behalf of the administrators, and overall cowardice of the officers.

This is not unique to Uvalde... they (unlike the vast majority of LE in the US) were tested... and failed. Most agencies and cops won't be truly tested in their careers/lifetimes, so issues like this won't be exposed.

[titsonritz]

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/03...-police-ar-15/

But they sure were all Billy Badass on parents who feared for the lives of their children. This woman had more balls then the entire collective of present LE, so naturally they have to harass her.


Mom who saved her kids from Uvalde school shooting says police are targeting her

[eric0311]

But they sure were all Billy Badass on parents who feared for the lives of their children. This woman had more balls then the entire collective of present LE, so naturally they have to harass her.


Mom who saved her kids from Uvalde school shooting says police are targeting her

Exactly.

[Coyotesfan97]

I’m not going to downplay the heroism she showed the day of the incident but she’s being targeted and the best example she can say is a cop parked at a corner near her house and was “ flickering” his headlights at her?

[Chuck Whitlock]

I’m not going to downplay the heroism she showed the day of the incident but she’s being targeted and the best example she can say is a cop parked at a corner near her house and was “ flickering” his headlights at her?

And the story was from June 2022.

[camel]

I’m not going to downplay the heroism she showed the day of the incident but she’s being targeted and the best example she can say is a cop parked at a corner near her house and was “ flickering” his headlights at her?

That’s usually a good sign that the cop is just telling you yeah I’m here(could be several reasons why lights are on). I’m not a police officer but I know a few. that’s a hyped up clickbait in the article.

[camel]

And the story was from June 2022.

Dig up anything for narrative.

[Screwball]

It may not be directly applicable to the incident, but it appears 281 LEO from at least four different agencies (local, state, and federal) responded. It is unlikely that all of those people had ever worked together before that day. I even wonder how effectively information could be communicated. But the real issue with ad hoc teams of that size is that because everyone is responsible the reality is no one takes responsibility. This behavior is well documented in business operations. The team size tends to diminish initiative because all of the people doing nothing must have a good reason for doing so. So I am not surprised that the majority of officers did not engage.

I can speak to the communication part…

Yesterday, I was taking a promotional test about an hour north from work. Myself and another officer took the same vehicle up… she was having an issue with her eye, so I was going to stop at work so she could drop her gun and then take her to the urgent care. Completely mundane ride back. Just entered a town about midway along the trip… radio call comes in; armed bank robbery in same town. [emoji2959]

Vehicle I was in was one from another port in our AOR (marked, lights, radio, PA, and cage), so I call in and say I’m passing the front of the bank with nothing out of the ordinary. No response. Swing around the back (enter the exit only), two cars leaving… both said the drive thru wouldn’t help them (neither appeared to be a threat… “get out of here”). Pull along side the entrance, get cover behind the engine… and start trying to figure out what I’m going to do (same call put out again, and hear a BPA is a minute or 2 away). Figured with the time from the call to my response… probably still in the bank. Armor is sitting at work, no M4 in the weapon rack… so I’m just shaking my head hoping the next unit has more than just a handgun.

Other officer is telling me she can use her other eye… I tell her to call 911 and coordinate, as it was clear the radio isn’t broadcasting/dispatch is answering me. I also didn’t want to leave her outside, and the subject gets outside and ambushes her. She gets thru to State Police, tells dispatch we are on scene… “robber left the bank, headed south in a grey car.” Hangs up. [emoji849] Granted I get you got stuff to do, but are you seriously going to cut communication to another agency at the location while you can still dispatch responding officers?

BP arrives… I yell to relay that on the mic… either he heard that on the radio or thru the window… starts booking it south. I holster up, jump in and follow him (single BPA… not going to let him go alone). We went thru 2 towns… eventually meeting up with northbound BP… 1 grey car, not the subject. Somewhere on the way south, found out the car plate was a taxi and the robber (single subject) had a red hoodie. Prior to meeting up with other BP, 3 or 4 State Police blow by us heading north. BP in front asks if we are chasing our tail… references me… I call over that was State dispatch info… that was heard so we continued.

BP spins around, we exchange a few words… he says he is going to circle back and check side streets. Told him I’ll do the same south, mainly because my main concern was the safety of the other officer. Granted, zero issue if stuff goes down when we both can see… I don’t want it to happen when she can’t. Call my supervisor as we round the first block, he said to return… suspects in custody. Still not over the radio, probably another 3 or 4 minutes before it was put out.

Later found out local police was closing up the interstate which runs to our work. BP had multiple units with stopsticks south of us. Would have had a great response if a grey car made it south.

Two guys robbed a bank in the town I took the test in, then robbed the bank I responded to. Left on foot, walked across the street before I arrived, and was at the local grocery store. State Police got them, tased 1 (I’m big with carrying a taser, people at work listening to the radio said they figured it was me). Complete s***show of a response, but with what we had available… I had zero issue telling management what I did/choices I made. If someone wants to say I was wrong, talk to the State dispatcher.

Looking back, I think I should have disregarded State and checked the bank when BP arrived. At the very least, made sure people were ok… and possibly got better info out (BP had zero radio issues). But it still was crappy situation, and did what I could. Granted, not almost 300 responding officers/agents… nor was a waste of life executing children… but understand the difficulty with coordinating a response.

[Joe S]

While the border patrol has very competent tactical teams, in the form of Bortac and Borstar, only three of the six individuals who made entry and took out the shooter were members of those teams and they were there and acted in an individual/ad hoc self initiated capacity. Not as a team. The other three were an ICE/HSI Agent and two sheriffs deputies from a neighboring county who also self initiated. The rifle rated shield used in the entry was borrowed from some US marshals. Both the six who made entry and the US marshals had actually been directed to not enter the school building by what passed for local incident command.

.

An aside: do we know the names of those officers/agents? Has anyone thought to set up a "Buy Heroic Cop #3 a beer/coffee/park bench placard" fund?

Might be nice while society as a whole craps on the B team to recognize and thank the starters.