Newly released footage from the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, appears to show police confusion and officers discussing fears of getting shot in the footage obtained by San Antonio NBC affiliate WOAI.
What’s in the new footage from Uvalde school shooting?
The massacre, which left 19 children and two teachers dead, happened in May. Police officials who responded to reports of a school shooter have been widely criticized for their delayed response, as previously reported. Police waited for over an hour before entering the classrooms where the gunman attacked, the Texas Tribune reported.
The recently leaked footage, obtained from police body cameras, gives insight into the response of the nearly 400 police officers at Robb Elementary School that day.
“What is the safest way to do this? I’m not trying to get clapped out,” a DPS trooper was heard saying in the footage, per WOAI.
“Me neither,” responded another trooper.
“I also don’t like standing right by the windows where we can get shot, bro,” the first trooper said, according to the report.
Throughout the video, there is confusion and an obvious lack of planning among the officers. The video shows that police officers did suspect that the killer was hiding in a classroom with the children, according to WOAI.
“I wonder if I can get in there,” said an officer at the scene in the body camera footage.
“He’s there. He’s gonna shoot at you again,” responded a different officer.
“You’re going to put yourself in danger?” asked an officer a few moments later.
The police responders delayed for over 70 minutes before taking action and entering the classroom where the shooter hid with the victims, according to reports.
Families of Robb Elementary School victims demand more action
During a recent Texas Department of Public Safety meeting, family members of Robb Elementary School victims asked DPS Director Steven McCraw to step down, NBC News reported.
McCraw previously said he would step down if his troopers held any responsibility for the poor police response, according to the New York Post.
“I can tell you this right now: DPS as an institution, right now, did not fail the community — plain and simple,” McCraw said, per the New York Post.
The Uvalde school district’s police chief and other state troopers have already been fired over the officers’ response to the shooting.