The Justice Department has issued a scathing rebuke of the police involved in the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas. In a long-awaited report released on Thursday, the department criticized the "cascading failures of leadership, decision-making, tactics, policy, and training" exhibited by local police during the tragic incident.

According to US Attorney General Merrick Garland, teachers and students were trapped in a room with an active shooter for over an hour, a situation that should not have occurred. The report, spanning more than 400 pages, highlighted a significant lack of urgency, miscommunication, and a failure to establish incident command as the shooting unfolded.

Officials described the incident as a failure that should not have happened, expressing deep sorrow for the lives lost. The shooting, which lasted over an hour, claimed the lives of 19 students and two teachers, making it one of the deadliest school shootings in US history.

While the report does not bring any charges, the Justice Department conducted its investigation to provide clarity and guidance for future incidents, as it does not have jurisdiction for criminal investigations. One of the report's key findings focused on the slow response of the Uvalde police, who failed to recognize the presence of an active shooter and treated the situation as a barricade instead.

It took 77 minutes for the police to confront and kill the gunman after the first officers arrived at the scene. The report emphasized that when faced with an active shooter, law enforcement should prioritize immediately neutralizing the threat. However, the Uvalde police's delayed response and miscommunications, including inaccurate information over the radio, hindered their efforts to stop the shooter.

The report placed much of the blame on Pete Arredondo, the former school police chief who acted as the on-scene commander during the incident. It criticized his lack of leadership, command, and control, highlighting deficiencies in policy and training. Additionally, Arredondo's missteps, such as leaving his radio behind, further exacerbated the chaos and hindered communication with his team.

Residents of Uvalde, a small Texan town, anxiously awaited the release of the Justice Department's report. US Attorney General Garland personally visited the town to meet with the families of the victims and gain a deeper understanding of the community's pain and loss.

The review was initiated at the request of former Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin, who sought clarity amidst conflicting accounts of the events leading up to the police's intervention. With nearly 400 police officers present at the scene, victims and their families have expressed frustration with the perceived slowness of the police response.

The release of the Justice Department's report brings some closure to the grieving families, who hope that the findings will provide validation for their belief that the response to the shooting was inadequate. As the investigation offers lessons for future incidents, efforts to improve police training and response protocols are expected to be undertaken in the wake of this tragedy.