Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Wednesday a team of nine law enforcement experts will help review the law enforcement response to last month’s deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
The review came at the request of the city’s mayor.
“There is nothing we can do to undo the pain bourne both by the survivors, families of the victims, and the community and the country,” Garland said. “The independence and transparency and the expertise of the Justice Department can go a long way toward assessing what happened in Uvalde in respect to law enforcement response and giving guidance for the future.”
Garland said investigators will be doing site visits and conducting interviews with witnesses, officials and families. He said the DOJ will release its findings to the public.
Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw said school district Police Chief Pete Arredondo made the wrong decision for police not to enter the classroom to encounter the gunman.
Nineteen children and two teachers were killed at the Texas elementary school.
McCraw revealed that an on-scene commander calculated that the event transitioned from an active shooter situation to a barricade event. McCraw added that it took more than an hour for officers to enter the room.
Officials said that Arredondo was not carrying a police radio at the time of the incident and that 911 calls from students were not being relayed to Arredondo.