NATIONAL NEWS

Justice Dept. names 9 to aid in review of Uvalde shooting

Jun 8, 2022, 11:16 AM | Updated: Jun 25, 2022, 8:54 pm

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks to reporters before meeting with members of the team t...

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks to reporters before meeting with members of the team that will conduct the critical incident review of the law enforcement reaction to mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, at the Justice Department headquarters on June 08, 2022 in Washington, DC. The Justice Department is launching the review after it was reported that police stood just outside two classrooms as 19 school children and two teachers were massacred inside on May 24 in Uvalde. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has named a team of nine people, including an FBI official and former police chiefs, to aid in a review of the law enforcement response to the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead.

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the team during a meeting in his office in Washington on Wednesday. The critical incident review is being led by the Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

The review will include an examination of police policies, training and communication, along with the deployment of officers and tactics, the Justice Department said. It will also examine who was in command of the incident and how police prepared for potential active-shooter incidents.

The team gathered for its first meeting Wednesday around a conference table in Garland’s office, with a few of the members appearing virtually on a large television screen.

Garland said the review would be comprehensive, transparent and independent.

“We will be assessing what happened that day,” he said. “We will be doing site visits to the school, we will be conducting interviews of an extremely wide variety of stakeholders, witnesses, families, law enforcement, government officials, school officials, and we will be reviewing the resources that were made available in the aftermath.”

The findings and recommendations will be detailed in a report, which will be made public, he said.

Garland said the team has already begun its work, though the department didn’t provide specific information on whether any members of the team have been to Uvalde, a town of about 15,000 residents.

The Justice Department said it would move as expeditiously as possible in developing the report.

The review was requested by Uvalde’s mayor. Such a review is somewhat rare, and most after-action reports that come after a mass shooting are generally compiled by local law enforcement agencies or outside groups. The Justice Department conducted similar reviews after 14 people were killed in a terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, in 2015 and after the mass shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida, the deadliest attack on the LGBTQ community in U.S. history, which left 49 people dead and 53 people wounded in 2016.

The Justice Department said the nine officials on the team in the Uvalde case had been selected for their expertise in law enforcement, emergency management, active shooter response, school safety and other areas. The team includes the former chief of the Sacramento, California, police department, a deputy chief who worked at Virginia Tech, the sheriff in Orange County, Florida, an FBI unit chief and other officials.

Two weeks ago, the 19 students and two teachers were killed at Robb Elementary School. Law enforcement and state officials have struggled to present an accurate timeline and details, and they have stopped releasing information about the police response.

The gunman, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, spent roughly 80 minutes inside Robb Elementary, and more than an hour passed from when the first officers followed him into the building to when he was killed, according to an official timeline. In the meantime, parents outside begged police to rush in, and panicked children called 911 from inside.

The review comes as state officials have already been examining the circumstances surrounding the shooting.

A spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety has said the school district police chief who served as on-site commander — and who officials have said made the decision not to breach a classroom sooner, believing it had shifted from an active shooting to a hostage situation — had stopped speaking with state investigators.

But the chief, Pete Arredondo, later told CNN that he was speaking regularly with Texas Department of Public Safety investigators. Texas officials have stopped answering questions about the response and haven’t said whether Arredondo is now cooperating with them.

When asked what the Justice Department would do if someone refused to cooperate in the federal review, Garland said Justice officials “expect voluntary cooperation from everybody at every level, and we have been promised that cooperation.”

The team includes: Rick Braziel, the former police chief in Sacramento; Gene Deisinger, who was a deputy chief at Virginia Tech; Frank Fernandez, who served as the director of public safety in Coral Gables, Florida; Albert Guarnieri, a unit chief at the FBI; Mark Lomax, who worked as a major with the Pennsylvania State Police; Laura McElroy, the CEO of McElroy Media Group; John Mina, the sheriff in Orange County, Florida; April Naturale, an assistant vice president at Vibrant Emotional Health; and Kristen Ziman, the former police chief in Aurora, Illinois.

___

Associated Press writer Jake Bleiberg in Uvalde, Texas, contributed to this report.

KSL 5 TV Live

National News

Officials with Boulder County Parks & Open Space are sending out a warning after two different jogg...

CBSColorado.com Staff

Cows attack joggers in 2 separate incidents in Colorado

Two different joggers had frightening run-ins with cows in the past week while out on the trails.

1 day ago

Heart transplant surgery...

Brenda Goodman, CNN

Reanimated hearts could make more organs available for patients in need, study finds

Researchers say they have been able to tap a new pool of organ donors to preserve and transplant their hearts: people whose hearts have stopped beating, resulting in so-called circulatory death.

1 day ago

Bryan Kohberger...

Gene Johnson, Associated Press

Judge weighs challenge to gag order in University of Idaho killings

A judge overseeing the case against Bryan Kohberger, charged with killing four University of Idaho students last fall, is set to hear arguments Friday over a gag order that largely bars attorneys and other parties in the case from speaking with news reporters.

1 day ago

The Gemini North telescope captured an image of a bright new supernova in the Pinwheel Galaxy.
Mand...

Ashley Strickland

A new supernova has appeared in the night sky

The supernova, named SN 2023ixf, is the closest one seen in five years.

1 day ago

FILE - Former President Donald Trump listens as he speaks with reporters while in flight on his pla...

Eric Tucker, Jill Colvin and Alanna Durkin Richer

Donald Trump described Pentagon plan of attack and shared classified map, indictment says

Former President Donald Trump indicted on 37 felony counts related to retaining classified information, obstructing justice and false statements.

1 day ago

Alejandro Núñez Vicente, left, designed the Chaise Longue double level airplane seat concept. CNN...

Francesca Street

The double-decker airplane seat is back. Here’s what it looks like now

Would you sit directly below another airplane passenger?

1 day ago

Sponsored Articles

Portrait of happy boy playing and splashing water in the swimming pool...

Get Out Pass

Family Fun Activities in Utah You Have to Try This Summer

These family fun activities will entertain you all summer, so if you ever feel stuck in a rut wondering what to do, refer to this guide!

Woman IT specialist in elegant suit working on notebook computer in data center next to server rack...

Les Olson

Your Complete Guide to Outsourcing IT Services

This guide covers everything you need to know about the different benefits of outsourcing IT services to meet your small business needs.

diverse group of friends dance outside under string lights...

Lighting Design

5 Frequently Asked Questions About Outdoor Lighting

Read for the most frequently asked questions about outdoor lighting to help narrow the search for your home.

Stack of old laptops with dark background...

PC Laptops

Old Laptop Upgrades You Need to Try Before Throwing it Away

Get the most out of your investment. Try these old laptop upgrades before throwing it out to keep it running fast and efficient.

Happy diverse college or university students are having fun on their graduation day...

BYU MBA at the Marriott School of Business

How to Choose What MBA Program is Right for You: Take this Quiz Before You Apply!

Wondering what MBA program is right for you? Take this quiz before you apply to see if it will help you meet your goals.

Close up of an offset printing machine during production...

Les Olson IT

Top 7 Reasons to Add a Production Printer to Your Business

Learn about the different digital production printers and how they can help your company save time and money.

Justice Dept. names 9 to aid in review of Uvalde shooting