{"id":81539,"date":"2022-05-27T12:53:26","date_gmt":"2022-05-27T17:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=81539"},"modified":"2022-05-27T13:23:54","modified_gmt":"2022-05-27T18:23:54","slug":"81539","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=81539","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

BLUF
\nI don\u2019t think we have anywhere near enough information to judge what actually happened and what the police did right or wrong. Inflammatory videos tell only a tiny part of the story, and I don\u2019t rely on them for an understanding of what actually happened except in regard to the tiny part they are telling. In this case, we know that desperate parents were angry at what they perceived as police inaction, and the police restrained some of them. The rest will emerge as time goes on \u2013 but for many people, the takeaway will be \u201cthe police are awful and they didn\u2019t care.\u201d
\nThat is by no means clear right now.<\/em><\/p>\n

On that report that police in Uvalde were just standing around<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the story<\/a>\u00a0as it now stands. I caution everyone to ask questions, though, before jumping to conclusions.<\/p>\n

For example:<\/p>\n

Video emerging online from Tuesday\u2019s schoolchildren massacre in Uvalde, Texas shows local police more concerned with stopping parents than stopping the killer\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here are my questions in response to that sentence:<\/p>\n

\u2013Were these all the police that were at the school at the time, or were there other police in the building trying to get in and who were communicating with those outside? Were these police we see in the video stationed outside in case the killer ran out and tried to escape, or in case he had an accomplice?<\/p>\n

\u2013Were the killings of children and students still going on, or were they over by this time? Were there cameras in the classroom or halls? Were police inside the building aware of what was going on at that point?<\/p>\n

\u2013What would have happened if the parents were let in and they ended up being killed as well? Was that not very much a concern of the police \u2013 sort of like the way firefighters restrain parents from running back into a badly burning building?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

More:<\/p>\n

Javier Cazares, whose nine-year-old daughter was murdered, says cops were \u2018just standing there\u2019 and waiting for protective shields to arrive at the scene before they went in.<\/p>\n

\u2018They said they rushed in and all that, we didn\u2019t see that,\u2019 he told The New York Times, adding that many were \u2018just standing there.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018There were plenty of men out there armed to the teeth that could have gone in faster. This could have been over in a couple minutes,\u2019 he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Same questions \u2013 and also \u201cthey said they rushed in and all that\u201d indicates that there may have been police inside already.<\/p>\n

From commenter \u201cKate\u201d<\/a>, who offers a link to\u00a0this\u00a0WSJ<\/i>\u00a0article<\/a>\u00a0and a summary of some information in it:<\/p>\n

On the Border Patrol team, and why police didn\u2019t charge in sooner: Once the shooter got into the classroom and locked the door, police couldn\u2019t get in because of concrete block construction and a steel door. The Bortac team got a key from the principal, unlocked the door and stormed in, three of them. The first carried a shield, which took fire, the second was wounded by shrapnel, and the third killed the shooter.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If that is accurate, then the police outside may have known the Border Patrol team was already on the way or perhaps even at that moment engaged in getting into the classroom, and that the Border Patrol team officers not only had a shield or shields, but may have been more highly trained in dealing with this sort of situation. Unless we know an exact timeline, we really don\u2019t know what was going on with the police in this video or inside the building at the time it was taken.<\/p>\n

This article<\/a>\u00a0is from a British paper that is usually pretty accurate on this type of event [emphasis mine]:<\/p>\n

It was\u00a0unclear at what time the footage [of the encounter between parents and police] was shot.<\/strong>\u00a0It also emerged Wednesday that Customs and Border Patrol agents who rushed to the scene had to grab a key from school staff to open the door of the classroom where the bloodbath took place.<\/p>\n

That is because\u00a0they were unable to break the door down themselves<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n

Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw told reporters that 40 minutes to an hour elapsed from when Salvador Ramos, 18, opened fire on the school security officer to when the tactical team shot him, though\u00a0a department spokesman said later that they could not give a solid estimate of how long the gunman was in the school or when he was killed.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2018The bottom line is law enforcement was there,\u2019 McCraw said.<\/p>\n

\u2018They did engage immediately. They did contain (Ramos) in the classroom.\u2019<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It seems possible that the doors were reinforced for protective purposes, against intruders or perhaps fire. But this made it very hard to enter, even for police with weapons. Also, did they not want to fire at the door because children inside who were alive might have been hit? I\u2019m not knowledgeable about whether gunfire can breach a steel door or not.<\/p>\n

More [emphasis mine]:<\/p>\n

Steve McCraw, director of the Texas department of public safety (DPS), said on Wednesday that a \u2018brave\u2019 school resource officer \u2018approached him\u2019 and \u2018engaged him\u2019 \u2013 but added that \u2018gunfire was not exchanged.\u2019 He did not explain why.<\/p>\n

The New York Times reported that their sources said at least one armed law enforcement officer from the Uvalde school district was at the school, and that officer exchanged gunfire with the gunman, but the gunman was able to get past\u2026<\/p>\n

All of the 19 children who died were inside the one [fourth-grade] classroom.<\/p>\n

Officers were unable to enter it,\u00a0The New York Times<\/a>\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

[DPS spokesman] Olivarez said\u00a0some of the officers were shot by the gunman, so others began breaking windows around the school trying to evacuate children and teachers.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It sounds to me as though, when the parents were arguing with the police officers outside the building, there was an active shooter situation and also other police were trying to get into the building in various ways and to allow the children to escape.<\/p>\n

More [emphasis mine]:<\/p>\n

Multiple teams<\/strong>\u00a0of Border Patrol agents raced to the school, according to Jason Owens, a top regional official with the Border Patrol\u2026<\/p>\n

McCraw praised the officers and denied there had been a failure \u2013 emphasizing that the\u00a0arriving officers \u2018engaged him\u2019 and were able to \u2018keep him pinned down in that location.\u2019<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I don\u2019t think we have anywhere near enough information to judge what actually happened and what the police did right or wrong. Inflammatory videos tell only a tiny part of the story, and I don\u2019t rely on them for an understanding of what actually happened except in regard to the tiny part they are telling. In this case, we know that desperate parents were angry at what they perceived as police inaction, and the police restrained some of them. The rest will emerge as time goes on \u2013 but for many people, the takeaway will be \u201cthe police are awful and they didn\u2019t care.\u201d That is by no means clear right now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BLUF I don\u2019t think we have anywhere near enough information to judge what actually happened and what the police did right or wrong. Inflammatory videos tell only a tiny part of the story, and I don\u2019t rely on them for an understanding of what actually happened except in regard to the tiny part they are … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-law-order","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81539"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81540,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81539\/revisions\/81540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}