The Justice Department has put together a team to probe the law enforcement response to last month’s Texas school massacre — but the investigators aren’t looking for criminal wrongdoing by cops, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Wednesday.
“This is not a criminal investigation,” Garland told reporters when asked if charges could possibly be brought against officers who waited for most of an hour to finally take out shooter Salvador Ramos.
“This is an after-action critical incident review, which we have done in the past, which we did in San Bernardino, which was done in the Pulse nightclub (shooting),” he added. “This is not a criminal review.”
The review — which has already started — will include site visits at Robb Elementary School and interviews with witnesses, families, law enforcement and government officials.
“The Justice Department is taking a critical incident review of the law enforcement response that day at the request of the Uvalde mayor. The review will be comprehensive, it will be transparent and it will be independent,” said Garland.
The findings will be released in a public final report, along with DOJ recommendations.
Merrick was asked whether the DOJ would have cooperation from everyone involved in the law enforcement response to the shooting, after reports said Uvalde School Police Chief Pete Arredondo was not cooperating with state investigators.
“We have been promised, assured and welcomed with respect to cooperation at every level of law enforcement: state, federal and local,” said Garland.
While Garland said he didn’t expect any problems, he stopped short of saying whether the DOJ could force anyone to cooperate.
The Texas DPS said Arredondo, who was in charge of the response during the May 24 attack, made the “wrong decision” to hold back officers from killing the 18-year-old suspect, who left 19 students and two teachers dead. The shooter was eventually taken out by a team made up mostly of Border Patrol officers, who reportedly ignored orders to stand back.
Arredondo, who is also a newly elected member of the Uvalde City Council, has been keeping a low profile and was a no-show at the first public meeting since the shooting two weeks ago.
Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin declined to say Tuesday when asked if he had confidence in Arredondo.
“I’m not going to speak for Pete Arredondo. He’ll have to speak for himself. I’m not going to go there,” said McLaughlin at the meeting.
McLaughlin said he did have confidence in his local police department and Texas DPS.
“Our hearts are broken by what happened in Uvalde,” said Garland. “There is nothing that we can do that can undo the pain borne both by the survivors, the families of the victims and the community and the country, but the independence, the transparency and expertise of the Justice Department can go a long way towards assessing what happened in Uvalde with respect to law enforcement response and for giving guidance for the future.”
