The report suggests that the Border Patrol's handling of the Uvalde school shooting was marked by failures and inadequate preparation.
The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Professional Responsibility conducted the first comprehensive examination of the actions of the 188 Border Patrol agents who gathered at Robb Elementary School, surpassing any other law enforcement body. A teenage gunman armed with an AR-style weapon slaughtered 19 students and two teachers inside a fourth-grade classroom, according to investigators, before a squad led by a Border Patrol tactical team entered the room and ultimately ended his life.
Following the shooting, the Border Patrol has not faced the same level of criticism as Texas state troopers and local police due to their delayed response to confront the shooter. The gunman spent over 70 minutes in the South Texas classroom, while an increasing number of police, state troopers, and federal agents lingered in the hallways outside.
Two Uvalde school police officers accused of failing to act were indicted and pleaded not guilty this summer.
Victims' families have long called for accountability in response to the delayed police response in South Texas.
Over 90 state police officials were present at the scene, along with school and city police. Various federal and state investigations have exposed systemic issues in law enforcement training, communication, leadership, and technology, leading some to question whether officers prioritized their own lives over those of children and teachers.
A report released by state lawmakers two months after the shooting pointed to "egregiously poor decision-making" by law enforcement as one of the primary problems. Amid the criticisms included in a US Justice Department report was the observation that there was "no urgency" in establishing a command center, leading to confusion among police about who was in charge.
While students and teachers called 911 from inside the classrooms, dozens of officers hesitated in the hallway, unsure of their next steps. Desperate parents who had gathered outside the building pleaded with them to act.
A mass release of audio and video recordings from that day last month included 911 calls from students inside the classroom. One student who survived can be heard pleading for help in a series of calls, whispering into the phone that there were "a lot" of bodies and telling the operator: "Please, I don’t want to die. My teacher is dead. Oh, my God."
The 18-year-old gunman entered the school at 11:33 a.m., initially firing from the hallway before entering two adjacent fourth-grade classrooms. The first responding officers arrived at the school minutes later, approaching the classrooms but then retreating as the gunman opened fire.
Eventually, at 12:50 p.m., a group led by a Border Patrol tactical team entered one of the classrooms and eliminated the gunman.
Jesse Rizo, whose niece Jacklyn Cazares was among the students killed, stated that despite not having seen the report, he was disillusioned by the lack of accountability mentioned in it by family members who had.
“We’ve expected certain outcomes after these investigations, and it’s been letdown after letdown,” said Rizo, who serves on the Uvalde school board.
Two responding officers are now facing criminal charges. Former Uvalde school Police Chief Pete Arredondo and former school officer Adrian Gonzales have pleaded not guilty to multiple charges of child abandonment and endangerment. A Texas state trooper in Uvalde who was suspended has been reinstated.
Last week, Arredondo petitioned a judge to dismiss the indictment, arguing he should not have been designated the incident commander and has essentially been made a scapegoat for the broader law enforcement failures that day.
Uvalde police this week placed a staff member on paid leave following the completion of an internal investigation into the discovery of additional video following the massive release last month of audio and video recordings.
Victims' families have filed a $500 million federal lawsuit against the law enforcement agencies that responded to the shooting.
After the indictment of two Uvalde school officers for their inaction, Jesse Rizo, a Uvalde school board member and relative of a victim, expressed disappointment about the lack of accountability in the investigation results.
Despite not being involved in the Department of Homeland Security's examination, the Border Patrol has managed to avoid the same level of criticism as other law enforcement bodies due to their response to the Uvalde school shooting.
