Uvalde

 School shootings have become a tragic and recurring part of American life, with events like Columbine, Sandy Hook, and Parkland forever altering how we think about safety in our schools. Each incident has reignited debates about gun control, mental health, and the responsibility of those tasked with protecting students. Yet, despite the changes in policy and heightened awareness, this endless cycle of violence continues to haunt entire communities…

The Columbine massacre was a mass shooting that took place on April 20th, 1999, at Columbine High School in the Colorado town of the same name. The perpetrators were two twelfth-grade students, who launched a deadly attack on their classmates, using firearms to kill 12 of their fellow students as well as a teacher. 21 were injured. While the Columbine shooting was far from the first shooting to ever take place on a school campus, it was the incident that ushered in a new era of murder in America. From here, they would begin to happen pretty frequently, but it wasn't until 2012 that school shootings would become a seemingly-daily occurrence.

On December 14th, 2012, a young man brought a .22-caliber rifle with him to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. There, he carried out a shooting that would kill six adult staff members as well as twenty children between the ages of six and seven years old... first graders and kindergartners who spent their final moments being herded by staffers into corners of darkened rooms, before their lives were permanently ended.

That was the point in time for America to take a long and serious look at itself, to try and pass any legislation to curb gun violence. But that moment came and then went with no major changes, while half of us just moved on because that was easier than grieving and the other half chose to ignore the problem entirely. While bleeding hearts cried out for change, others clung to their firearms and brazenly wore N.R.A. pins inside the nation's capital.

While school shootings remained prevalent, we Americans still felt assured that we could rely upon our heavily-armed, militarized police force to ensure safety when it was most needed. But then the Parkland shooting in 2018 showed that not even a single police officer could be trusted to keep our children safe. Not when their own life took precedent. In that shooting, a former-student led a rampage against his fellow classmates, killing 17 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and wounded 17 others. During that shooting, SRO Scot Peterson, a Broward County Sheriff's Deputy who was on-site and in uniform at the time, remained outside Building 12 as the shooter carried out his massacre inside. While it's hard to blame SRO Peterson for not playing Rambo, it is easy to highlight him as a perfect example of why America's long held "a good guy with a gun" metaphor means nothing... at least, once the shooting starts.

That leads us to the incident that showcased how helpless our children truly were... the ones in society with no innate ability to protect themselves. This incident highlighted how we had done nothing but were all out of solutions, how we'd given up without even attempting to change a thing; because one half of the aisle always tells us that it's too soon to have any meaningful discussion about gun violence, or that we need to "stop politicizing" the deaths of countless children. Whatever the hell that means. As if death produced on an industrial scale gives a shit about our politics.

For my money, this is the single incident that highlighted how truly fucked America is and always has been. How rotted we've all become in our souls. While children lay bleeding inside of a school - the place some of them once felt safest, where some of them got their only meals of the day - hundreds of police officers sat idly by, waiting for orders that would never come. Their cowardice and/or ineptitude (pick one) directly led to dead children, and the overwhelming majority of them will ever face any meaningful repercussions for it. Not while the system that protects them remains shielded from not only accountability, but mere criticism. Meanwhile, the circumstances that led to these deaths remain completely unchanged, and us Americans have moved on entirely. Sweeping this incident, and the rest, firmly under the rug.

But perhaps the only way to enact meaningful change (at least, in the minds of you out there listening) is to face the true horror of this story head-on. By rubbing our faces in this uniquely American brand of failure. To face the reality of these butchered kids, shot to death inside their elementary school... to learn their names, their dreams, their lives. And we also need to learn exactly how their stories came to a tragic end, not at the hands of any one person, but at the end of a barrel of a gun sold to a cowardly piece of filth too afraid to make something of themselves, sold to them by a society that's too afraid to enact change... a society that has deluded itself into thinking this is the price of freedom.

This is the story of Uvalde.

Uvalde, Texas is the county seat of Uvalde County, located in Texas Hill Country, an area approximately eighty miles west of San Antonio, and fifty-four miles east of the U.S.-Mexico border. This moderate-sized town in centrally-located southern Texas is home to roughly 15,000 people, and features a predominantly Hispanic and Latino population. In fact, of the town's residents, nearly 80% identify as one or the other.

Up until recently, Uvalde was just another small town in America, which was most notable for being the birthplace and longtime home of famed actor Matthew McConaughey, as well as a few baseball players and some other mildly-notable celebrities. But for many, Uvalde was just a regular small town, where children dreamed of going on to live their lives... the type of town that families moved to in pursuit of safety and stability.

Of the children that lived in town, many ended up attending Robb Elementary School, a grade 2-4 school that was attended by nearly 600 students, roughly 90% of whom were Hispanic. And of whom, more than 80% came from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

In the 2019 - 2020 fiscal year, the city of Uvalde spent roughly 40% of its budget on its police department... which, for any town, is an incredible sum for safety. Or, for what some would argue, is the illusion of safety. But more on that later.

The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District also spent a lot of money on security measures, which included their own six-member police department (UCISD PD), who were meant to police the district's eight schools. Until recently, this specialized police department was headed by Pedro "Pete" Arredondo, who took on the role as police chief in 2020.

Following the 2018 shooting at a high school in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in which eight students and two teachers were killed and thirteen others were wounded, the state of Texas passed a $100 million statewide allocation that was aimed at increasing security within schools. As a result, the UCISD PD was provided with nearly $70,000 to improve security measures at their eight schools, which were already pretty robust.

A report released by the Texas House of Representatives would later note that the UCISD used a software service called Social Sentinel to monitor the social media accounts of students, as well as other Uvalde residents, to identify potential threats against the schools or students. They also used the pricey Raptor Visitor Management System to manage the flow of students and staff into various buildings, which required scanned documents to enter or exit. Because of the overhauls, they began to implement other various security measures, including two-way radios, fence enclosures around the campus, school threat assessment teams, and locks on all exterior doors.

To help ensure that things remained safe on UCISD campuses, joint security training exercises took place over several years, with members of the Uvalde Police Department, the Uvalde County Sheriff's Department, the UCISD PD, and other local law enforcement agencies participating. This was meant to stress-test these security measures in a live setting, during which variables could present themselves that officials may not have planned for. The first of these exercises took place in August of 2020, and were conducted as recently as March 21st, 2022. In the latter scenario, an active shooter scenario exercise was carried out, meant to highlight how to respond to that specific situation: an active shooter. How authorities could confront the shooter, administer first aid, evacuate the building, and various other role-playing scenarios. It even explored the differences between barricaded subject or hostage crisis scenarios, where an armed person barricades themselves in a confined space - possibly with hostages in tow.

The agency that developed the training course, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, wrote in their material:

"First responders to the active shooter scene will usually be required to place themselves in harm's way. Time is the number-one enemy during active shooter response... The best hope that innocent victims have is that officers immediately move into action to isolate, distract or neutralize the threat, even if that means one officer acting alone."

Only when a shooter had been isolated to a single location, and couldn't escape or do harm to someone else, were officers:

"... not obligated to enter the room to deal with the attacker."

But until then, this training noted:

"Citizens have a reasonable expectation that police officers are willing to take risks to reduce casualties."

This was training that had been developed over decades, following the experience of law enforcement officials that had responded to active shooter events all over the country. Beginning with Columbine, it became known that officers had to engage the shooters as quickly as possible, even if it put their own lives at risk... to not do so went against the very motto of law enforcement, to "Protect and Serve."

In 2019, a paper published by the International Association of Chiefs of Police wrote:

"... current thinking reemphasizes that, given proper justification as defined by law agency policy, taking immediate action during active shooter incidents, rather than waiting for specially equipped and trained officers, can save lives and prevent serious injuries... [I]t has been recognized that even one or two armed officers can make a different in the outcome of active shootings by taking swift, but calculated, individual or coordinated action. Time lost by delayed action is likely to result in additional casualties."

All of this to say that this wasn't new or revelatory information. It's what every police officer that's ever been trained on active shooter responses should know. After all, this is what they claim their militarized equipment and expensive training courses are for, allocated to them by us, the taxpayers, in annual budgets. As I stated at the top of this segment, the city of Uvalde had allocated nearly half of its entire budget for this very purpose: for law enforcement to be prepared to handle situations like this one. As written in the active shooter training that Uvalde police received just weeks before they were faced with a real life version of events:

"A first responder unwilling to place the lives of the innocent above their own safety should consider another career field."

In May 2022, the world was distracted by various stories unfolding across the globe.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine had been ongoing since February of that year, and continued to dominate international headlines. There was the typical political posturing that often precedes the midterm election cycle, and a lot of eyeballs were focused online to another international travesty: the civil trial unfolding in real time between actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. Meanwhile, many feared that a disease called "monkeypox" might awaken the planet's dormant-yet-simmering-under-the-surface fears of another pandemic.

At this point in history, Uvalde was just another town in America. Most had never heard of it. Those who had likely had a personal connection to the town. Many of the town's residents had the same thing on their mind as the rest of us: what to make for dinner that night, how to make sure rent or mortgage was paid, what they were going to do that weekend, etc.

But on May 24th, 2022, with just two days left in the school district's calendar year, the small town of Uvalde, Texas would forever change.

Throughout the entirety of this episode, the perpetrator of this heinous event will be identified as The Subject or The Shooter. I will do my best to ensure that generic, nongendered terms are used to identify them as a person; not for any specific reason, mind you. Despite what has been reported by some online, they were not nonbinary or trans themselves. But because of the fad among school shooters to commit crimes like this to perpetuate their own saga, I'll refrain from embellishing or glorifying any part of their existence. However, because it is pertinent to this story, I will still explore some elements of their backstory, so bear with me for a few minutes.

Born in Fargo, North Dakota, The Subject was raised in Uvalde, Texas by their mother, a woman who reportedly struggled with addiction over many years. It's also believed that one of their mother's boyfriends had sexually assaulted them as a youngster, but when confronted about this, their mother never believed them. As a result, the two would have a strained relationship, which the mother denies but has been reported by many that knew them. Later, during their teenage years, The Subject would end up moving out of their mother's home following an argument regarding the Wi-fi, moving in with their grandparents.

Ruben Flores, a neighbor, recalls that they had "a pretty rough life" with their mother, and tried to set a good example for the troubled youngster when possible. But Flores recalls the cops being called over to the house on multiple occasions, primarily due to fights between The Subject and their mother.

In middle school and junior high, The Subject was bullied for some speech impediments, including a stutter and a strong lisp that they had. A childhood friend, Stephen Garcia, recalled to the Washington Post:

"(They) would get bullied hard, like bullied by a lot of people. Over social media, over gaming, over everything."

Their cousin, Mia, would tell the same reporters:

"(They weren't) much of a social person after being bullied for the stutter. I think (they) just didn't feel comfortable anymore at school."

At first, The Subject was pitied by those who cared for them, but their personality began to grow rougher and more abrasive. They began to throw away their remaining friendships, viewing them as expendable, and began to wear all black. They even grew out their hair and began to wear black eyeliner, which only increased the gay slurs they received from fellow students. They began dabbling in self-harm, such as cutting up their own face. Shortly thereafter, they dropped out of school. Childhood friend Stephen Garcia recalls:

"(They) kept getting worse and worse, and I don't even know."

Throughout these teenage years, The Subject began to exhibit some very troubling traits. While they had thrown away most of their existing friendships, they would begin to use the Yubo app to develop social friendships. The Yubo app, for those unaware (like myself before this) is apparently a Tinder-style app for friends, where people can hang out in virtual live streams or play games together, things like that.

[I know I'm probably butchering the description of it, but hey... I'm in my mid-30s, bear with me. I'm trying.]

The Subject would apparently used this app quite a bit, and through it, began to display many red flags that should have been noticed by anyone that knew them. There, they'd begin to film and livestream animal abuse, which they seemed to enjoy. This included the harming and even killing of multiple cats. Someone that claims to have seen this abuse told ABC News that the Subject would:

"... put cats in plastic bags, suspend them inside, throw them at the ground and throw them at people's houses."

Another witness claims that they would:

"... display these videos while laughing and boasting about how (they) and (their) friends did it 'all the time.'"

As time went on, The Subject would then begin to threaten to harm or even rape girls through the app, which one user recalling that a video had been recorded on Yubo, with the Subject harassing a female user on the app and telling her that she:

"... deserves to be raped."

Other times, the Subject would make snide comments about potentially carry out a mass shooting, which - due to their abrasive personality - never landed well. Afterward, they'd try to play it off as a joke.

Much of this troubling content was reported to the moderators of Yubo, and they were temporarily suspended, but no permanent action was taken. The authorities were never contacted, and the concerning material continued to be published and shared with other youngsters using the app.

In March of 2022, at around the same time police in Uvalde were receiving active shooter training, The Subject posted a troubling story to their Instagram account. This story also featured their mother, who was trying to kick them out of their home at the time. Nadia Reyes, a former-classmate that followed them on Instagram, later recounted:

"(They) posted videos on (their) Instagram where the cops were there and (they'd) call (their mom) a bitch and say she wanted to kick (them) out. (They'd) be screaming and talking to (their) mom really aggressively."

Nadia, this classmate who'd known The Subject for quite some time, theorized that she thinks they weren't ever as bullied as they'd let on. She hypothesized that they had a bit of a victim complex, and tried to paint any pushback on their troubling personality as bullying, telling reporters with the Washington Post:

"I don't think (they were) necessarily bullied. (They) would take things too far, say something that shouldn't be said, and then... would go into defense mode about it."

From what I've gathered on their backstory, The Subject was someone that many of us have known before. Someone that had a pitiful background, but who never had the compulsion to better themselves: they likely felt small but wanted to feel big. They felt like a victim even though they rarely were. They sabotaged themselves because they were afraid of failure, and didn't want to risk being exposed for who they were inside. As a result, they often lashed out and overreacted to minor troubles because it was preferable to introspection and evolution.

By May 2022, The Subject was living with their grandparents, but their relationship with their grandmother was becoming frayed. They'd almost entirely dropped out of school, having skipped classes for weeks, and their grades had dropped to beyond failing levels. They were no longer on track to graduate with their fellow classmates in just weeks, and spent their days working at a nearby fast food restaurant. There, they clocked in and clocked out, only ever becoming notable when they made female coworkers uncomfortable with snide comments.

However, unbeknownst to anyone close to them, The Subject had been stockpiling weapons and ammunition. While they had turned eighteen years old just that month, they had already purchased two AR-15 semi-automatic rifles, and began stockpiling more than 1600 rounds of ammunition.

While The Subject had been enrolled at Uvalde High School, they had been skipping class a lot and had almost entirely dropped out of school. As a result, they were not academically on track to graduate with the rest of their classmates that Spring.

On the morning of May 24th, 2022, this failure led to an argument between The Subject and their 66-year-old grandmother, whose house they had been living at since March of that year. This was just one argument of theirs in recent history, and was onset by not just their academic woes, but also their cell phone bill, of all things.

As the argument escalated between the two that fateful morning, The Subject would send a message through Facebook messenger to a digital acquaintance over in Germany, a 15-year-old girl they'd met through Yubo. The first message, which detailed the argument with their grandmother, included the line:

"Ima do something to her rn"

The argument continued, and that first message was quickly followed by another:

"I just shot my grandma in her head"

As it turns out, this was not just bluster. As their argument had unfolded, The Subject had unearthed one of their AR-15 rifles and shot their own grandmother in the face. The injury left her incapacitated, and she fled the home, seeking help from neighbors. Those neighbors contacted police, who arrived at the scene shortly thereafter. The grandmother was airlifted to a hospital in San Antonio in critical condition. She would go on to make a recovery, but still struggles from the injuries she received that Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Subject would flee the home inside their grandmother's vehicle, a black 2008 Ford F-150. They took with them their weapons, ammunition, a tactical vest, and a backpack, sending one final message to their digital pen pal over in Germany:

"Ima go shoot up an elementary school rn"

On the morning of Tuesday, May 24th, 2022, life unfolded as it always did at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. More than 500 students were in attendance that day, along with various teachers and staff members, and spirits were high. With just two days left in the school year, everyone was ready for summer break.

Just before 11:30 AM, the Subject, driving their grandmother's stolen pickup truck, arrived in the neighborhood of Robb Elementary. They'd attended the elementary school years prior, and now returned on what should have been the week of their high school graduation. As they arrived in the neighborhood, they ended up barreling through a barricade, causing the truck to speed uncontrollably into a flood control channel alongside the road. There, the truck came to a forced stop, totaling the truck and disabling it at 11:28 A.M.

After crashing the truck, the Subject climbed out of it, quickly putting on a backpack and a tactical vest. While they had two rifles with them, both AR-15 semi-automatic rifles, they left behind one in the truck. The backpack contained hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and the tactical vest they wore didn't have any bulletproof material, but made it easy for the shooter to access seven 30-round magazines they'd already prepared.

Two men working at a nearby funeral home, located across the street from Robb Elementary, heard the truck crash into the ditch and came outside to see what had happened. They saw the Subject emerge from the truck, wearing black and holding a rifle. The Subject noticed them, and fired a couple of shots in their direction, hitting neither. The two men ducked for cover, but made note of the direction the figure donned in black was heading: the elementary school down the road.

As the Subject approached Robb Elementary, they fired some shots at kids playing outside on the school playground. Again, they didn't hit anyone during this brief barrage. But they continued moving toward the school, hopping a fence and making their way towards a backdoor, which law enforcement officials would later note had been propped open by a teacher a minute or so before the shooting. In reality, it hadn't been. The door was closed by a staff member at the school who saw The Subject climbing an exterior fence, armed with a rifle. However, the door was supposed to lock when shut, but the only way to ensure it was to try and open it from the outside. Sadly, this time, the door did not lock.

Meanwhile, other school officials inside - who'd noted the Subject's arrival moments earlier - began calling 9-1-1 to inform them of the crash outside and the figure with the gun. A coach outside, who'd seen the figure clad in black hopping the fence, informed school faculty to go into lockdown.

At 11:33, the Subject entered Robb Elementary School through the unlocked back door, and immediately began firing shots down the hallway. Within a minute, they'd approached classroom 111, a fourth-grade classroom taught by Irma Garcia. She'd heard the lockdown notice and was in the process of trying to lock the classroom door when the Subject raised their rifle and fired in her general direction. The shots pierced the glass on the door, backing Mrs. Garcia into her classroom. Now in the classroom, the Subject raised his rifle to Mrs. Garcia, telling her "goodnight" before shooting and killing her, the first of what would be many fatalities that day.

Sadly, classroom 111 was connected through an interior door to classroom 112. Both rooms were occupied by students and staff at the time the lockdown had gone into effect.

Behind closed doors, shots could be heard inside the two conjoined classrooms for several minutes afterward, as law enforcement began arriving at the scene.

Within three minutes of the Subject's entry of Robb Elementary, eleven law enforcement officers were at the scene. This included not just members of the Uvalde Police Department, but the specialized police department established for situations just like this one, the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department.

Five of those eleven officers responded first on scene (FOS) and heard repeat gunfire coming from inside the school. As they advanced down the hallway toward classrooms 111 and 112, they smelled gunpowder and were greeted by smoke in the hallways, telltale signs that a shooting had just taken place. As they approached the doors for the conjoined classrooms, one of the officers barked at the others to "line up to make entry." But before they could do so, they were greeted by gunfire from inside the classroom, which caused two of the five FOS officers to be struck by shrapnel. Based on a later audio analysis, eleven shots were fired by the Subject inside the classroom. Police didn't return fire. Almost immediately, they would begin retreating back down the hallway for cover.

Over the next couple of minutes, more attempts would be made to proceed down the hallway toward the classrooms, but various bouts of gunfire from inside caused officers to pause. Ultimately, the decision was made to wait for additional officers to arrive.

As they waited, officers checked in nearby classroom 110 to see if there were any students inside. There, they found none and presumed - because it had been "award day" at the school - that classrooms 111 and 112 might also have been empty. By the time they had made it down the hallway, they did not hear any screaming, so they assumed - wrongly, mind you - that the shooter inside classrooms 111 and 112 was alone.

In the vital minutes that followed, UCISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo, one of the FOS officers and the ranking officer at the scene, began directing officers to delay making forced entry into the classroom. Rather, he ordered that they begin treating this as a barricaded subject, not as an active shooter. Subsequent radio calls from some of the FOS officers would report that the Subject was "barricaded" or "contained" inside the classroom, which meant that different rules of engagement would apply. "Barricaded" or "contained" subjects were typically believed to not pose an active threat to others and might be open to negotiations, whereas "active shooters" were to be neutralized immediately. By labeling this shooter as "barricaded," police were no longer preparing to storm the room; rather, they would wait for specialized units, such as a SWAT team, to arrive. Despite gunshots continuing to ring out from inside the conjoined classroom, that's exactly what happened.

Police continued to amass in the hallways, but Chief Arredondo called for a SWAT team to make entry while he attempted to establish contact with the shooter and negotiate some kind of ceasefire. He was unsuccessful in doing so.

Frustratingly, Chief Arredondo was not carrying his police radio with him. After arriving at the scene, he'd abandoned his radio because he wanted to be able to wield his firearm with both hands. So despite him being the ranking officer at the scene, he was unable to communicate his instructions clearly to the officers that began arriving at the scene in the minutes - and hours - that would follow. Instead, he would communicate his orders verbally or via cell phone, which led to certain high-ranking officials know what was going on at any given moment, but rarely all of them.

For that matter, as dozens of law enforcement agents and officials began arriving at the location around Robb Elementary, no one seemed to know what was going on. Few seemed to even know who was in charge. In fact, throughout the entire ordeal, speculation spread among many of the officers that Chief Arredondo was inside the classroom with the shooter, negotiating with them face-to-face. That was not the case. Arredondo was never inside the classroom. No police officers had even established visuals of the classroom, let alone stepped foot inside.

This confusion would carry on for over an hour, with hundreds of law enforcement agents arriving at the scene, filling up parking lots and the surrounding area, blocking off streets that led to the school. This led to many concerned parents and even other emergency personnel, such as ambulances, being unable to approach the school.

Despite the large amassing of police officers, no command post was established, which would help streamline the information coming in to authorities in real time. Rather, officers showed up and continued to wait for orders that would never come.

Roughly ten minutes after the first shots had been fired inside of Robb Elementary, UCISD PD Chief Pete Arredondo continued trying to negotiation with the Subject inside of the classroom where they'd barricaded themselves. He was unsuccessful in this endeavor. Meanwhile, acting Uvalde Police Chief Mariano Pargas was unable to provide much direction or guidance for the hundreds of police officers and emergency personnel that began filing to the scene. Rumor spread about what was unfolding, but because of the limited space inside the hallways of Robb Elementary, word spread slowly between officers about what was actually happening.

One of the first officers to arrive at the scene, Ruben Ruiz, an officer with the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District P.D., began to receive messages from his wife, Eva Mireles. She was a teacher inside one of the conjoined classrooms, who told her husband that she had been shot and wounded. As he told it, she believed she was dying. As he communicated this information to other authorities gathered inside the school, he was disarmed and forcibly removed from the hallway where they stood.

At the same time, Eva Mireles was communicating with other staff members, sending them as text message at 11:40 which read:

"Im shot bleeding help"

A staff member that was in that group chat responded with some texts that went unanswered:

"OK"

"Are you in your room"

"Amiga are you ok???"

At this point, worried parents had begun gathering outside the school, following notices they'd received about the school going into lockdown, as well as breaking news reports about an active shooter on campus.

At 11:54 A.M., roughly twenty minutes after the Subject had entered the school, an onlooker named Angel Ledezma began live-streaming outside it. This video showed worried parents beginning to confront police officers from various departments, worried about the shooting inside the school. They pled with officers to enter the school and save their children. As minutes passed, these pleas would become more and more desperate, as information slowly trickled out about the possibility of students and staff still in the classroom where the shooter was now barricaded.

Dozens of police officers were now gathered in or around the school's hallways, but because of there being no command post set up, communication between them was still staggered and broken. There was no way to know what information being passed interpersonally was true or not. In fact, officers still weren't sure whether or not there were any students inside the classrooms.

But at 12:03 PM, a student from inside classroom 112 would dial 9-1-1, identifying herself to dispatchers in a whispered voice. However, because there was no command structure in place, it was unknown if or when this information was relayed to the officers lining the hallways of the elementary school. Regardless, their approach didn't change in any way, and they continued to treat the Subject as a barricaded shooter.

At 12:09 PM, more than thirty minutes after the Subject had gained entry at Robb Elementary, all classrooms near the active crime scene were evacuated of staff and students. The lone exclusion was room 109, which was locked from the inside. For that reason, it was feared that students and staff may still be in there.

A team of officers assembled in the hallway, which had been preparing to enter classrooms 111 and 112, were called off by UCISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who told them to hold off until room 109 could be evacuated. He ordered a search for keys to unlock the door, telling officers amassed in the hallways:

"Time is on our side right now. I know we got kids in there, but we gotta save the lives of the other ones."

One minute later, at 12:10 PM, the student from classroom 112 that dialed 9-1-1 minutes before called back, telling the dispatcher that there were multiple shooting victims around them, many of whom were dead. Again, it's unknown if details of this call were relayed to officers inside the hallway, but based on his prior quote, we can assume that Chief Arredondo was aware of students inside classrooms 111 and 112. However, he would spend the next thirty or so minutes attempting to locate a master key to unlock room 109, where students quietly waited for an all-clear.

At 12:13 PM, the student inside room 112 would dial 9-1-1 for a third time, and would call back again just a few minutes later, at 12:16. In that final call, they explained that there were eight or nine students alive in the classroom, waiting to be rescued.

Meanwhile, outside, worried parents began to break windows in the school and attempted to help their own children escape. While others, including horrified onlookers, begged the growing legions of police officers outside to charge into the school and do their jobs.

At 12:21 PM, 48 minutes after the Subject had entered the school, four gunshots were fired inside of classrooms 111 & 112.

A group of officers standing inside the school's hallway moved forward, gathering outside the classroom doors. They had tried to unlock a nearby janitor's closet using a pair of keys they'd obtained from school officials, but were unable to unlock the closet. For that reason, they believed the keys would not work on room 109, so the officers then retreated back down the hallway to cover.

At this point, Chief Arredondo ordered for room 109 to be evacuated through the windows, and that order began to be carried out immediately. Body camera footage shows this taking place, with officers shattering the windows to room 109 and ordering anyone inside to make their escape. Inside, students and staff had been quietly huddled for nearly an hour, including one wounded teacher and one injured student, who had both been shot when the Subject entered the school. They were able to escape with the aid of police, ducking for cover as they fled the school.

At around the same time, a commander for the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC), a specialized unit that served under the supervision of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, arrived at the scene. BORTAC had been prepared to enter the classroom and neutralize the subject for several minutes, but kept getting called off. The commander began pressuring the ranking officers at the scene to make entry to the classroom once and for all.

At 12:36 PM, more than an hour after the Subject had entered classroom 111, a set of master keys were finally located, allowing police in the school's hallway to unlock the janitor's closet, located next to the classroom where the shooter was reportedly contained. At this point, though, with room 109 already evacuated, it wasn't known if keys were even needed; police had still not even checked the doors to rooms 111 and 112 to see if they were locked.

As BORTAC officers prepared to make entry, they were ordered yet again to hold off. Officers decided to instead use a drone and snipers positioned outside the classroom windows to try and locate the shooter. Hopefully, they'd be able to eliminate them without making a forced entry. But over the next handful of minutes, both methods would prove unsuccessful.

At 12:43 PM, another gunshot was fired inside the classroom. A student, on the line with 9-1-1 at the time, quietly told dispatchers that the shooter had just shot at the classroom door.

At 12:48 PM, 75 minutes after the Subject had entered the school, police officers finally prepared to open up the door to classroom 111. As it turns out, it had been unlocked the entire time. This team, made up of three members of BORTAC, one member of BORSTAR (Customs & Border Patrol's Search, Trauma, and Rescue Unit), and deputies from two local sheriff's departments (Uvalde County and Zavala County), made entry at 12:49 PM. As they opened the door, they positioned rifle-grade shields in front of them, and had to force open the doors, which the Subject had stacked desks in front of.

The Subject emerged from inside a classroom closet, shooting at the officers as they entered. Their shots hit the shield carried in front, provided by the U.S. Marshals Service, but one BORTAC member received a grazing wound to his head and leg.

The Subject, however, was shot and killed at 12:50 PM, nearly an hour and fifteen minutes after police officers had first responded to the scene, having documented at least 45 gunshots fired by the subject since their arrival. The Subject's death was just as undignified and pathetic as their life.

The violence was over with for now, but what was left behind was a grisly scene that none involved were ready to make sense of. Classrooms 111 and 112 shared an interior door that allowed students and staff to pass easily between them, and at the time the lockdown had gone into effect, both rooms had been occupied by a grand total of 33 students and 3 teachers. Most of whom were now dead.

In the minutes, hours, and days that followed, members of the Uvalde community were told the crushing news that some of their youngest were no longer with us, their lives having ended that fateful day inside of Robb Elementary School. To make matters even worse, because the communication had been so chaotic from the onset of the shooting, many family members had received assurances that their child's classroom was not one of the rooms affected. So they went on believing that their child was safe from harm... until they received the crushing news that their child was not safe.

In total, twenty-one people had been killed inside the two conjoined classrooms, not including the shooter. Nineteen were children and two were teachers. Seventeen others had been injured, most of whom were students. Many would go on to make full recoveries, but all still bear scars - both physical and emotional - which may never fully heal.

Two-and-a-half-years later, the fallout of the Uvalde massacre continues to loom large over not only those that had been directly impacted, but the community itself.

Nevaeh Alyssa Bravo, ten years old, enjoyed playing softball and watching TikTok videos with her friends. She also enjoyed the colors purple and pink, as well as anything butterfly-related. Remembered as a little girl that always put a smile on other's faces, Nevaeh's named was "heaven" spelled backwards.

Jacklyn Cazares, nine years old, had celebrated her First Communion a week before her death. She loved to sing and spend time with friends, and when she wasn't physically around them, shared videos with them through Snapchat. She adored her family's four dogs, and dreamed of one day becoming a veterinarian. She also dreamed of one day moving to Paris, and had begun collecting money inside of a piggybank to take a trip there when she was old enough. Her father, Javier Cazares, told AP News:

"She had a voice. She didn't like bullies, she didn't like kids being picked on. All in all, full of love. She had a big heart."

Makenna Lee Elrod, ten years old, was an active kid that enjoyed playing softball and gymnastics, and she also loved to sing and dance with her family and friends. She loved to spend time at her family's ranch, caring for their many animals, which included a dog, a pig, a steer, and a horse, all of whom played important roles in Makenna's life. She also loved writing notes for her family to find long after she'd written them.

Jose Manuel Flores Jr., ten years old, was known by his loved ones as "Josecito" and "Baby Jose." He loved baseball and playing video games, and according to his father, was "always full of energy." An avid Houston Astros fan, Jose wore #6 on his Uvalde Little League Team, and dreamed of one day becoming a police officer when he was older so that he could protect people, like he'd done with his younger siblings. His mother told CNN that Jose was a great big brother:

"He was just very good with babies."

Eliahna Garcia, nine years old, was the second oldest of five girls. She loved to play basketball, and had just won a championship with her team the Saturday before the shooting took place. Her aunt, Siria Arizmendi, told the AP:

"She was very happy and very outgoing. She loved to dance and play sports. She was big into family, enjoyed being with the family."

Eliahna dreamed of one day becoming a teacher. She was also an avid fan of the movie 'Encanto.' Following her death, she was buried in a custom dress designed by the Walt Disney costume design team, which they gifted to Eliahna's family.

Irma Garcia, forty-eight years old, was a fourth grade teacher at Robb Elementary that was two days away from finishing her 23rd year of teaching. She'd been married to her husband, Joe, for even longer, with the two having had been high school sweethearts. Irma and Joe had four children together, who ranged from twelve to twenty-three years old at the time of the shooting. Irma loved to barbecue with her family, and spent her down time fishing or just listening to music.

Sadly, two days after Irma's death, her husband Joe would pass away due to a heart attack, no doubt caused in part by the sudden death of his wife. I'm not sure if there is an afterlife, but I hope that if there is, the two have been reunited there.

Irma's death was a huge loss for not only Uvalde schools, but the world. She'd won Teacher of the Year back in 2019, and was celebrated by an entire generation of students for encouraging them to not only graduate from high school, but go on to college. In a post she'd put out on social media, before her death, she'd written about her students:

"Seeing them return to their elementary schools wearing their cap and gown... is the reason every teacher in this district does what they do. That moment makes all the struggles, long hours, and endless paperwork so worth it."

Uziyah Garcia, ten years old, was known as "Uzi" by those that knew and loved him. Described as a very energetic kid, Uzi loved the chance to do anything active. Some of his favorite hobbies were playing football, swimming, or simply climbing and running. His grandfather, Manny, described him as "the sweetest little boy that I've ever known," and family recall that he had a special love for Jesus in his heart.

Amerie Jo Garza, ten years old, had celebrated her tenth birthday just two weeks before the shooting. On that birthday, she'd been given a cell phone, which fellow classmates that survived would say that she'd tried to use to dial 9-1-1 before being shot and killed. Amerie had planned to begin her summer break early after getting picked up that fateful Tuesday, and her grandmother, Dora Mendoza, would tell reporters with AP News:

"She was very creative. She was my baby. Whenever she saw flowers she would draw them."

Xavier Lopez, ten years old, was the type of kid who always wore a smile, which was contagious for others. Many remember his palpable excitement for the upcoming summer break, where he planned to swim and play baseball constantly. A few years prior, he'd learned how to make hot salsa, and he would sell that salsa to afford presents and knickknacks for his younger brothers. His cousin, Lisa Garza, told reporters:

"He was just a loving... little boy, just enjoying life, not knowing this tragedy was going to happen. He was very bubbly, loved to dance with his brothers, his mom. This has just taken a toll on all of us."

Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, ten years old, loved his family to the point that he'd put on a pot of coffee for them every morning before heading off to school. He enjoyed getting to spend time playing games or engaged in various hobbies, which ranged from spoiling his dog, Fifi, to anything involving ninjas or dinosaurs.

The day of the shooting, Jayce had actually begged to go with his relatives to the San Antonio Zoo, as they were accompanying another family member's kindergarten class trip. But Jayce was told that it didn't make sense for him to skip school so close to the end of the school year... a decision that his family would go on to immediately regret. However, if any of them happen upon this, I hope that they know none of this was their fault.

Tess Mata, ten years old, loved dancing and watching videos on TikTok. A fan of the singer Ariana Grande, Tess was also a big fan of the Houston Astros; in particular, their second baseman, Jose Altuve. She dreamed of one day following in her big sister's footsteps by attending Texas State University, and had begun saving up money for a potential family trip to Disney World in the future.

Maranda Mathis, eleven years old, had just turned eleven a couple of weeks prior to the shooting. Known for having a big imagination, Maranda loved to spend time outdoors, collecting things like rocks, shells, and feathers. She was also known for being incredibly kind and attentive with other people, with a friend's mother describing her as "very loving and very talkative" to the Austin-American Statesman.

Eva Mireles, forty-four years old, was a fourth grade teacher at Robb Elementary that had been teaching for seventeen years, specializing in special education for most of that span. For a few years, she'd been helping to integrate children with developmental disabilities into regular classrooms (a task that, having worked in a school before, I can tell you is nothing shy of sainthood in my book). Eva was also an avid runner and hiker, who had a passion for exercise, namely Crossfit. She also happened to be married to a Uvalde school district police officer, with whom she had an adult daughter with. At the time of the shooting, the couple also had three pets together.

Alithia Ramirez, ten years old, loved soccer and drawing, and served as a role model for her younger siblings. When she'd been eight years old, her best friend was struck and killed by a car, and Alithiea had shown a level of compassion far beyond her years afterward. She became a source of comfort for her deceased friend's family, drawing them pictures and providing emotional support that rarely comes natural to children of that age.

On her tenth birthday, Alithia had worn a tie-dye shirt with "[peace] out single digits" written along the front, which would become a viral photo after her death. Sadly, though, that was the last birthday her family ever shared with her.

Actor Matthew McConaughey, a native of Uvalde, would share some of Alithia's artwork with the world when he spoke at the White House after the shooting.

Annabell Rodriguez, ten years old, was a member of the Honor Roll and part of a very close-knit family that spent a lot of time together. She was close friends with her second cousin, Jacklyn Cazares, who was another victim of the same shooting. She was also close friends with Xavier Lopez, another shooting victim, constantly attending his little league games and wearing a locket with his picture around her neck.

Maite Rodriguez, ten years old, was described by her mother Ana Rodriguez as:

"... focused, competitive, smart, bright, beautiful, happy."

Maite had struggled with the Zoom classes offered during the COVID-19 pandemic, but had rebounded throughout that school year, doing enough to earn A's and B's on her final report card. This had earned her recognition at a school assembly earlier that fateful Tuesday. She'd planned on becoming a marine biologist when she was older, and hoped to earn her degree at Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi, having learned about their program earlier that year. She was remembered by her surviving classmates as being incredibly brave, telling them where to hide in some of her final moments.

Alexandria "Lexi" Rubio, ten years old, was an A-grade student that was also recognized at the assembly earlier that day, who planned on becoming a lawyer when she was older. Having played on softball and basketball teams, Lexi planned on going to college on a softball scholarship. Her father, Felix, was a deputy with the Uvalde County Sheriff's Office, and one of the many officers who responded to the school that day. The two loved debating each other on random topics, which always ended up descending into something silly.

Lexi's family had coined a sandwich after her, which they called the "Lexi burger." It was a plain McDonald's cheeseburger topped with fries and chicken nuggets. Surprisingly, Lexi swore by it, and this ended up getting released as a special item by the burger chain on Lexi's birthday.

Layla Salazar, eleven years old, listened to songs like "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns'n'Roses every morning as her parents dropped her off at school, belting out every note along the way. Layla loved to run, swim, dance along to TikTok videos, and play games like Minecraft and Roblox with friends. She adored koala bears and was a huge fan of the Dallas Cowboys.

Jailah Nicole Silguero, ten years old, was described by many as a little girl with a big heart, who was always thoughtful and caring with younger kids. She loved to play basketball and skateboard, and like so many her age, loved to watch and dance along to TikTok videos. Jailah's mother told Univision reporters that Jailah had felt uneasy about going to school that Tuesday, but she'd gone anyway.

Jailah also happened to be cousins with Jayce Luevanos, another victim of the shooting. Their bodies were found laying near each other inside the classroom they shared.

Eliahna Torres, ten years old, was a caring child that always put others before herself, taking time out of her day to accompany her grandfather on walks after he'd had heart surgery, and made sure that both grandparents took their daily medication. She was also incredibly silly and loved to make others laugh.

Sadly, Eliahna was set to play her final softball game of the season later that Tuesday. Her team would take a knee that afternoon in honor of not just Eliahna, but the rest of her classmates that had perished.

Rojelio Torres, ten years old, was described as a hardworking and driven young man, who constantly told others that he wanted to make a difference in the world. A constant help to his mother and aunts, Rojelio spent his free time playing football outside, or playing video games or Pokemon inside. His mother, Evadulia Orta, told ABC News that her son was smart and loving. Following his death, she stated:

"I lost a piece of my heart."

What I've just told you was a brief snapshot of twenty-one lives, all of which were prematurely ended on May 24th, 2022. I wish I could go into more detail for all of them, but it's hard to do an entire life justice, even when so many had barely begun.

Of the twenty-one families that were left reeling in the wake of this heinous crime, some were told immediately after the bodies had been found in the classroom. Others were told hours later, as the crime scene was not an easy one to process. It took time to identify many of the victims, and the nightmarish, hellish nature of the crime scene made it so this was no easy feat.

As detailed by legendary journalist Skip Hollandsworth for Texas Monthly, first responders at the crime scene were greeted by:

"... children and teachers sprawled on the floor, their bodies ripped apart by the high-powered gunshots. A doctor said one child had been decapitated by the force of the bullets. Another had a baseball-size hole in his chest. Blood was spattered on the walls and was sprayed over the fourth graders' drawings and books and backpacks. The acrid odor of gunpower hung in the air."

Survivors of the shooting, mainly third and fourth graders from classrooms 111 and 112, would tell of what had unfolded inside as police officers waited outside in the hallway.

Samuel Salinas, a ten-year-old from Irma Garcia's class, later told Good Morning America:

"It was a normal day until my teacher said we're on severe lockdown, and then there was shooting in the windows."

That was when Irma Garcia, Samuel's teacher, had been attempting to lock the classroom door before the Subject shot through the glass, forcing her back. Samuel continued:

"[The shooter} came in and said, 'You're all gonna die,' and just started shooting... (They) shot the teacher and then (they) shot the kids."

Samuel recalled how some of the kids around him, who'd been hit by bullets or pieces of shrapnel, started to yell and cry. He was himself hit by a piece of shrapnel, which came from a bullet originally aimed directly at him. However, a chair between himself and the Subject caught the bullet, sending a small piece toward his thigh, where it was later embedded. Afterward, Samuel pretended to be dead, something that other survivors would adopt as a necessary tactic.

In the more than an hour that followed, Samuel says that a cellphone in a student's desk began to ring, causing the girl it belonged to to try and silence it. Samuel says that gunshots immediately followed it, but from the sound of it, he wasn't sure if the two were related.

When the Subject was finally neutralized by law enforcement at 12:50 PM, more than 75 minutes later, Samuel was rushed out of the classroom. He recalls:

"There was blood on the ground. And there were kids... full of blood."

This was not something that Samuel would easily heal from, if ever. In the months that followed, Samuel had constant nightmares of the shooting, and wasn't looking forward at all to the subsequent school year, making this something that he worried would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Miah Cerillo, an eleven-year-old classmate of Samuel's, recalls an almost identical series of events. She told CNN that their class had been in the middle of watching the film 'Lilo & Stitch' when the shooting began. Moments later, as Irma Garcia went to lock the classroom door, the shooter was already there, taking aim at her. After shooting her, the Subject then took aim at the defenseless children, as well as the other teacher, Eva Mireles.

After shooting most of the students and staff in the conjoined classrooms, Miah recalls the Subject playing loud music, which she described as "sad" music. Having been wounded herself in the shooting, Miah pretended to be dead by smearing a dead classmate's blood on herself, playing dead for what felt like several hours. In the meantime, as they waited for police to rescue them, Miah and another classmate used their deceased teacher's phone to dial 9-1-1, telling a dispatcher:

"Please come... we're in trouble."

Later, after finding out that police had been outside of the classroom door for more than an hour, Miah was unable to understand why. Why hadn't they come in immediately? Why had they let the students in there struggle to survive - amidst the blood of their fallen classmates and teachers - for more than an entire hour?

In the aftermath of the crime, an investigation began that was headed by the Texas Rangers and the Texas Department of Public Safety. They began analyzing and processing the multiple crime scenes, which included more than the two classrooms where the majority of the shooting took place, such as the Subject's grandmother's home, the vehicle crash site outside, the hallways and neighboring classrooms, and the funeral home across the street, which had become a bit of a de-facto staging ground for some of the police and other first responders, but was also where the Subject had first shot at people that day (the two witnesses who responded to the vehicle crash).

The investigators had to deal with not just a gruesome, sprawling crime scene, but a large amount of misinformation that had been spread throughout the entirety of the crime. Not only was there a lot of gossip among the police officers that had gathered in Uvalde that day, but misinformation that had spread online. In the hours and days that followed, this was spread on numerous social media sites (Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, and others) and through the media. This included the rumor disseminated by Conservative talking heads that the shooter had been a "radical trans leftist" (they weren't), as well as the belief that a teacher had propped open the back door before the shooter gained entry (they hadn't).

Early on, scrutiny fell upon the responding police officers, who had responded en masse, with dozens of officers arriving at Robb Elementary within minutes of the shooter gaining entry to the school. Within an hour or so, nearly 400 various law enforcement officials were gathered in the immediate vicinity, giving rise to the question: why had it taken so long for them to neutralize the shooter and rescue these children?

Within two minutes of the shooter entering through the unlocked back door, three police officers were inside the school. Within half an hour, as many as nineteen were active in the hallway just outside the classroom. Yet, despite that, it had taken more than seventy-five minutes for officers to enter the conjoined classrooms where all of the twenty-one victims had been shot to death, where the children inside had been essentially left to fend for themselves.

The reason for why this had happened was something that investigators would work to figure out, as Uvalde School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo was one of the first officers to arrive at the scene, and had assumed the role of ranking officer during the entirety of the situation. He'd been present when the decision had been made to treat the shooter as "barricaded" and/or "contained," which came with it a different set of standards than a typical active shooter. But investigators would have to speak to the dozens of police officers present in the hallway that fateful Tuesday before determining why police had waited so long to make entry into the classroom to neutralize the Subject.

In the wake, police officials worked to distance themselves from that early decision, either trying to downplay their role in it, or otherwise playing off the actions of the FOS officers as understandable... despite it going against the very tenets taught during active shooter training, which many officers in the region had gone through just weeks beforehand.

Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Lt. Chris Olivarez said early on:

"The initial group of officers that were on scene, at that point, they were at a point of disadvantage because the shooter was able to barricade himself inside that classroom. There was not sufficient manpower at that time and their main, their primary focus was preserve any further loss of life. So they started breaking windows around the school, and trying to rescue, evacuate children and teachers while that was going on."

Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw explained how first responders had decided to begin treating the situation as a barricaded shooter, not an active shooter, which as we now know, was not the case. A barricaded shooter is no longer an active threat to the community, but in this case, children were still alive in the classroom and on the phone with 9-1-1 dispatchers as gunshots were being fired. But even then, McCraw admitted:

"From the benefit of hindsight where I'm sitting now, of course it was not the right decision. It was the wrong decision, period. There's no excuse for that."

Many of the other police officials that were present at the scene or in charge of the response refused to speak to reporters in the wake of the shooting. Others would simply ask for patience when it came to the investigation, which would determine what had happened and when. In a statement released to the public, Uvalde Police Chief Daniel Rodriguez wrote:

"This is an ongoing investigation that is being led by the Texas Rangers. I understand questions are surfacing regarding the details of what occurred. I know answers will not come fast enough during this trying time, but rest assured that with completion of the full investigation, I will be able to answer all the questions that we can."

As the administrative investigation into the police response to the shooting took place, a separate criminal investigation was carried out by state officials, which aimed to determine what had led to the shooting in the first place. This, of course, led investigators into the troubled backstory of the main person responsible, the shooter.

Investigators learned that the Subject had had a contentious relationship with their entire family, moving out of their mother's home on March 20th, 2022, roughly two months before the shooting took place. In the meantime, they'd lived with their grandparents, with whom they also had a rough relationship with. They often got in a lot of fights together; in particular, with their grandmother, whom had been their first shooting victim.

On May 24th, 2022, the morning of the Uvalde shooting, the Subject had messaged a friend of theirs, who has been identified as "Cece" in various reporting. This was their German friend, who they'd met through the Yubo app two weeks prior, but ended up become Facebook friends with. In the meantime, they'd messaged each other back and forth, and even video-chatted, which they did at around 10:00 A.M. that morning (a little more than an hour before the shooting started). The Subject told "Cece" that they had plans that day, but were waiting for their grandfather to leave before they could begin.

At around 11:06 A.M., the Subject texted "Cece," telling her that they were waiting for their grandmother to finish up her conversation. At the time, the grandmother was speaking to AT&T about the Subject's cell phone. Then, minutes later, the Subject sent a series of three messages to Cece. The first read:

"Ima do something to her rn"

These were then quickly followed up by two more messages:

"I just shot my grandma in her head"

"Ima go shoot up an elementary school rn"

At the time, "Cece" didn't know what to make of the messages. For all she knew, the Subject - who she'd known digitally for a grand total of two weeks - could have just been bullshitting or acting out some dark fantasy of theirs. Later, when speaking to the New York Times, she'd state:

"Maybe I could've changed the outcome. I just could never guess that (they'd) actually do this."

"Cece" was later prosecuted by German officials for failing to report the messages to authorities. In a sad note, she was one of just a few in this story to face any type of consequence, despite her relationship with the Subject being misconstrued as some kind of long-lasting friendship. Regardless, she was found guilty of "failing to report planned crimes" by a court in Frankfurt, but because of her age (15 years old) was only issued a warning and required to undergo "educational measures."

This leads us to one of the more divisive subjects on this matter, which is whether or not the Subject had expressed any warning signs or red flags ahead of the shooting itself, something that Texas Governor Greg Abbott denied early on, when he spoke alongside police officials at a much-maligned press conference when he referred to the Subject as "the sheer face of evil," but also stated that:

"... there was no meaningful forewarnings of (their) crime."

But as the months have unfolded, those that knew the Subject say otherwise, that while they'd never been incarcerated or undergone any psych evaluations or anything like that, that there had been warning signs. Many of them, which should have been noticed by someone... anyone, really. At least in the process of purchasing two AR-15 semi-automatic rifles and more than a thousand rounds of ammunition, which they'd done immediately after turning eighteen years old. This was something that they'd kept quiet from their closest family members, with their grandfather, Rolando Reyes, telling ABC News:

"I didn't know (they) had weapons. If I'd have known, I would have reported it."

If you recall, the Subject had expressed troubling behavior dating all the way back to middle school, when bullies at their school had mocked the Subject by calling them "school shooter." You can either look at this as some kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, or simply calling a space a spade. While I'm not ever going to condone bullying, kids have been trained to identify troubling traits in others - especially their own classmates, who are those most likely to carry out acts of violence like the one covered in today's episode. If it had become a running joke among students that the Subject was likely to carry out a mass shooting, then it was likely obvious to more than just the student body... yet, nothing was ever done about it.

Much has been written about the Subject's early life and their troubling relationship with both their parents and grandparents, who they lived with at the time. But based on accounts from many of their own peers, the Subject was a bit of a bully themselves, who loved to provoke others into starting fights. This may be a bit of a chicken-or-egg situation, but regardless, we know that the Subject enjoyed provoking others, demeaning or harassing girls in their class, and seemed to enjoy abusing animals. They'd reportedly stream the abuse of animals on Yubo, with one user telling ABC News that they'd:

"... put cats in plastic bags, suspend them inside, throw them at the ground and throw them at people's houses."

The Subject had even grown abusive with young women or girls on the Yubo platform, threatening to rape and kill several female users when they rejected romantic or sexual advances. This had even caused the Subject to get temporarily banned on the platform, but they were eventually let back on, despite threatening to shoot up schools on the platform as a form of taunting others. As their own sick version of "owning the joke," I guess.

The Texas state investigative report, which was finalized in 2022, laid out the point:

"None of his online behavior was ever reported to law enforcement, and if it was reported by other users to any social media platform, it does not appear that actions were taken to restrict his access or report him to authorities as a threat."

So despite public officials like Greg Abbott claiming that there were no warning signs, I think it's apparent that there were several of them. But no one in the state of Texas cared to look, before allowing the Subject to purchase multiple semi-automatic rifles as soon as they turned eighteen years old. Per State Senator Roland Gutierrez, who told CNN:

"It's the first thing (they) did when (they) turned 18... (They) had no problem accessing those weapons."

Records show that the Subject had tried for months to get relatives to purchase rifles for them, including an attempt to convince their sister to buy them a gun back in September 2021. In the months to come, they'd make jokes or references on social media or in group chats to becoming a school shooter. Yet in May 2022, they'd finally turned eighteen years old, and purchased two AR-15s from a local sporting goods store called Oasis Outback. They'd then posted photos of both on their Instagram page just days before the shooting took place, and bragged in private messages to "Cece" that they'd purchased nearly 2000 hollow-point rounds, which are known for their ability to expand inside of bodies, making them even more dangerous than a traditional bullet.

Despite all of these glaring red flags, no one was there to notice them. The powers-that-be weren't looking through the Subject's social media backstory before allowing them to legally purchase two AR-15 rifles. If someone had done an extensive search into their history, or hell, even a cursory one, they'd find a flawed individual that desperately needed mental health treatment. But because there were no guardrails, there was nothing in our existing legal framework to prevent them from obtaining the weapons needed to kill nineteen children and two women on March 24th, 2022.

While the criminal investigation into the Uvalde shooting tried to figure out how the shooter had obtained the weapons needed to carry it out, a separate administrative investigation commenced, which hoped to learn from law enforcement's mistakes. This administrative investigation would become more of a focus over time, as it became clear to not just state and federal investigators, but the public, that something had gone terribly wrong in Uvalde that fateful day. And for that reason, criticism of law enforcement has been the biggest conversation regarding this story since it unfolded nearly two-and-a-half years ago.

As I touched on earlier in the episode, the most fundamental aspect of active shooter training is that the shooter(s) must be immediately neutralized, and that officer safety (as well as every other objective, for that matter) is subordinate to that. So the fact that police officers responded to the shooting that day and continued to hear gunshots inside the classroom, yet chose not to immediately storm in, went against the primary objective of their active shooter training... training that had been funded by Uvalde and other Texas taxpayers for that singular, specific purpose. After all, the city of Uvalde spent nearly half of their entire town's budget on law enforcement, which included the funding of the school-specific law enforcement division, meant to oversee the response to situations exactly like this one. But in their one chance to respond, had completely shit the bed.

Seventy-seven minutes passed between the time officers arrived at the scene and when they finally gained entry to the classroom, killing the Subject. Throughout that time, no locks stood between them. Despite them spending nearly forty minutes trying to locate keys to unlock nearby doors, the doors leading into classrooms 111 and 112 were never locked. Yet, other than a single failed attempt when officers first responded to the scene, at no point between then (a little after 11:30 A.M.) and the final entry at 12:50 P.M., had officers at the scene attempted to open the door. The investigative report by the U.S. Department of Justice highlighted this failure on page 87:

"Rapid emergency deployment puts significant responsibility on first-responding officers, who may not be fully equipped or trained as a SWAT team member. First responders are also instructed to go toward the violent offender, if necessary, bypassing injured victims and placing themselves in harm's way. When seconds count, the ability to quickly and effectively get to the assailant and stop the violence is paramount."

In the DOJ's report, this quote is made in the context of law enforcement standards established after the Columbine shooting in 1999. After that, experts realized that the imperative of first responders was to neutralize the subject first and foremost before delivering aid or assistance to anyone, as it was only safe to administer aid in a safe environment. Furthermore, the DOJ concluded on page 145, in a recommendation made to clear up any confusion regarding this process moving forward:

"Active shooter response protocol does not require any equipment that is not standard to a patrol officer. Officers on scene during the initial response in the West building, even with only their standard issue service weapon, had sufficient equipment to formulate a plan and attempt to make entry into classrooms 111/112, by first checking the doorknob and, if necessary, making a forced entry through a classroom window, or using ballistic breaching methods."

The DOJ report notes that the immediate response of the FOS officers was in line with this principle. Eleven police officers made it to the school within three minutes of the Subject entering, and made their way down two separate hallways that intersected near classrooms 111 and 112. But upon gauging the exterior door and preparing to enter, they were greeted by gunfire from within. Two officers were then hit by shrapnel due to the shots fired, and as a result, all eleven decided to retreat down the hallway.

From this point forward, the ranking officers who decided to retreat - and the fellow officers that went along with them - were actively going against their active shooter training. They began treating the active shooter as a barricaded/contained shooter, something that is explicitly taught not to do in school shootings. They then decided to wait until specialized units like the SWAT team could come and take care of the situation, which - again - is not something that officers do in situations like this. The imperative must be to neutralize the subject through any means necessary.

From 11:38 A.M. until 12:47 P.M., a time period of nearly seventy minutes, police officials described the Subject as "contained" or "barricaded" at least twenty-seven times over their radios. This was despite multiple shots being fired at least twice in that span: once at 11:44 A.M. and again at 12:21 P.M. It wasn't until 12:49 P.M. that the room was breached and the Subject was finally shot and killed moments later, at 12:50.

Despite certain police claiming that they didn't know whether there were any wounded inside the classrooms where the shooter was, we do know that the FOS officers asked school officials and were told that classes were in session at the time. Throughout the duration of time that passed with police right outside in the hallway, multiple 9-1-1 calls were received from shooting victims and survivors inside the classroom, including an explicit call that came in at 12:12 P.M. from a child. In that call, she claimed to be in "a room full of victims" and pled for officers to save her and the rest of the surviving children.

We also know that a police officer at the scene, Ruben Ruiz, had received text messages from his wife at 11:56 A.M., in which she indicated she was injured. This information was relayed to multiple officials at the scene, and this officer was disarmed and forcibly removed from the hallway. I find it hard to believe that this information didn't spread among other officers, who - above all - seem to protect their own.

But with all this being said, we know that police officials knew as late at 11:38 A.M., shortly after their arrival, that there were innocents inside the classroom alongside the shooter. And it's sad that the best case scenario (with a heavy emphasis on best case) is that this information was simply never relayed to the officer in command, who in this situation was school police Chief Pete Arredondo, who has stated he wasn't aware that he was the ranking officer in command of the police response, despite being one of the first officers on the scene, having a positioned created to oversee responses in school shootings, attempting to negotiate with the shooter, and commanding officers throughout the entire ordeal. Him simply not knowing that there were survivors inside the classroom is tragically the best case scenario.

But the worst case scenario is that Arredondo and other high-ranking police officials at the scene did know this information, yet still proceeded to make decisions that didn't emphasize neutralizing the shooter as fast as possible. Instead, they stood around and waited for Texas DPS and Border Patrol to arrive with better equipment, like rifle-rated shields, which would protect officers from the Subject's AR-15, but would leave the children and teachers inside to fend for themselves for the time being. And this is in spite of active shooter training emphasizing that officers should immediately neutralize the shooter with whatever equipment those officers (even patrol officers) have on hand at the time.

By the time authorities got into the classroom, teacher Eva Mireles was still alive, barely clinging to life. She'd been shot more than an hour beforehand, shielding students from the shooter's semi-automatic rifle at the onset of the attack, but had been left to bleed out inside the classroom. Outside the room, she was greeted by her husband, Uvalde School District police officer Ruben Ruiz, who - if you recall - had been in communication with her throughout the ordeal, hoping to save her, but had been disarmed and removed from the scene. In the nearly hour that followed, he'd been pleading with other officers to go in and save his wife and the others, telling them that she'd been shot as early as 11:56 A.M. Sadly, though, Eva was one of the 21 casualties, despite her still being conscious and responsive when officers made entry to the classroom. Babak Sarani, the director of critical care at George Washington University Hospital, later told the Texas Tribune:

"Had medics gotten to her quickly, there's a good chance she would've survived."

Two of the students faced similar fates. Ten-year-old Xavier Lopez and nine-year-old Jacklyn Cazares were both technically still alive when the shooting concluded, but Xavier died shortly after police officers breached the room, while Jacklyn died in transport to the hospital. It's believed that if police had neutralized the shooter sooner, or if the immediate response hadn't been so chaotic, that all three may have lived. It's even possible that others had expired shortly before police made entry. Perhaps their lives may have been saved, as well. The investigative report put together by a Texas House committee concluded:

"Given the information known about victims who survived through the time of the breach and who later died on the way to the hospital, it is plausible that some victims could have survived if they had not had to wait 73 additional minutes for rescue."

Not only was this a massive failure of organization and leadership, it was a massive failure of American law enforcement itself, with almost every U.S. police agency having adopted some variant of the phrase "protect and serve" as its motto. In this case, it's believed that the officers, especially those who arrived at the scene first, prioritized their own lives above the children and teachers inside the classroom.

Of all the things to commend him for, school police Chief Pete Arredondo did oversee the evacuation of students and staff from nearby classrooms, ensuring their safety. But his judgement that their lives were more important than those he knew to be in imminent danger - those inside the classroom that the active shooter was inside of - went against police protocols and active shooter training.

Ruben Torres Jr., the father of a Uvalde survivor, referred to the police and the shooter when he told the Texas Tribune:

"There was no control. That dude had control the entire 77 minutes. They didn't have him barricaded. He had the police barricaded outside. It's plain and simple. The police didn't go in. That's your job: to go in."

To make matters even worse, in the days after the shooting, public officials were quick to side with law enforcement. This included Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who gave a press conference alongside Chief Arredondo and others, praising their "quick response," as well as their "amazing courage by running toward gunfire," two details that could not be further from the truth.

Others, meanwhile, continued to turn a cold shoulder to the victims' families and the survivors, instead siding with their friends in the gun lobby, the very people whose business model made this massacre possible. This included Texas Senator Ted Cruz, aka "Cancun Cruz," who said without a sense of irony just days later at an N.R.A. convention in Houston:

"What stops armed bad guys is armed good guys."

I'd like to think that the irony was just lost on him, but this is the same guy who abandoned his state when things got too cold and then blamed it on his daughters, and was also too afraid to defend his wife when a certain presidential candidate called her "ugly." So... I guess I just never should have expected him to have a spine in the first place.

But the cherry on top, which makes this saga even more frustrating for me, is the treatment that parents and other family members of victims received after the shooting started in Uvalde. As law enforcement amassed outside, parents and guardians began arriving at Robb Elementary, understandably concerned about their children inside. But through the various videos that were recorded at the scene, law enforcement were visibly hostile with them, despite parents shouting "Go in there! Go in there" to the hundreds of police officers that were just waiting around for orders.

To make matters even worse, the footage shows police officers restraining concerned parents that wanted to take matters into their own hands, using pepper spray, tasers, and restraints to keep them docile while children and teachers continued to bleed out inside. Juan Carranza, an onlooker watching the scene from across the street, later told reporters with CNN:

"A lot of us were arguing with the police, 'You all need to go in there. You all need to do your jobs.' Their response was, 'We can't do our jobs because you guys are interfering."

In the two-and-a-half years that have passed since this massacre took place, it has been reported that police in and around Uvalde have begun harassing those that have been outspoken about their own failure to act. This includes the family members and friends of murdered children and teachers, who are themselves still grieving their losses, who have reported being harassed and/or targeted by law enforcement, all because they dared to speak out against them.

Since this saga began to play out on our screens and social media feeds back in May of 2022, it has continued to unfold in various ways.

The building where the incident took place, Robb Elementary, has since been permanently closed. Since the shooting took place so close to the end of the school year, it was relatively easy for the district to shutter the building for good, and plans were made to tear down the existing building and rebuild upon the land. Local grocery chain H-E-B pledged millions to that effort, and other firms and foundations pledged their own support, giving the community hope that the rest of the world was behind them, even if their own police were not.

Meanwhile, legal proceedings began to work their way through the court system, but were ultimately unsatisfying in their breadth and scope.

Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell began convening a grand jury in late 2023, which would evaluate whether or not law enforcement officials should be held responsible for their role in the massacre, as well as the responsibility they collectively shared for not going in immediately to rescue any children. Coincidentally, one day after the U.S. Department of Justice released their investigative report into the Uvalde shooting, the grand jury began hearing testimony.

This past summer, in June of 2024, the grand jury returned an indictment against just two police officials: school police Chief Pete Arredondo and police officer Adrian Gonzales, another of the first responders to the scene. Arredondo was charged with ten counts of child endangerment, and Gonzales was charged with twenty-nine counts of the same thing. Both were arrested and later released on bail, and while they're currently awaiting trial, both can face up to two years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines if convicted.

Many of the victims' families think that these potential charges are a slap in the face, considering the pain they feel is something they'll have to endure for the rest of their lives. They believe that this isn't nearly enough, and that for only two police officers out of the nearly four-hundred that gathered in Uvalde that day to be held responsible... that was just obscene to them. Per Jerry Mata, the father of ten-year-old shooting victim Tess Mata, to the Associated Press:

"For only two to be indicted, there should have been more because there was a lot of ranking officers during that day that knew what to do but decided not to. But they only got these two."

Meanwhile, the two accused of child endangerment - Pete Arredondo and Adrian Gonzales - have both pleaded not guilty and plan to fight out their charges in court. Lawyers for Gonzales claim that the charges against him, a law enforcement officer in the state of Texas, are "uncharted territory." He has a point, but I don't know if it's a good one. At the same time, during an interview with CNN this August, his first since the shooting, Arredondo claimed that he had been "scapegoated from the very beginning," despite him being in charge of the disastrous police response that undoubtedly cost lives. When asked whether there was anything he'd do different, Arredondo responded:

"It's a hindsight statement. You can think all day and second guess yourself... I know we did the best we could with what (we) had."

This response was criticized by many, including the father of shooting victim Jacklyn Cazares, who stated:

"I don't understand his feeling that there was no wrongdoing. He heard the shots. There's no excuse for (not) going in. There were children. Shots were fired. Kids were calling, and he didn't do anything."

This depressing story continues to play out in both public and private settings, with the families of those whose lives were lost petitioning public officials to change the laws that govern how guns are sold and transferred. They've also filed multiple lawsuits against the gun manufacturers that they believe made this entire ordeal possible in the first place, and have petitioned state and federal politicians to change gun laws. They believe that new potential gun laws, which would do things like institute more rigorous background checks or even raise the age needed to purchase firearms from eighteen to twenty-one may have helped prevent this shooting. They think they'd definitely help them prevent others.

Their opponents, members of the gun lobby and other hobbyists, claim that it is not the firearms that are the problem, despite them being the only variable that makes such shootings possible in America but nowhere else in the developed world. These opponents claim that additional mental health services are needed to help combat the rising threat of school shooters, but the families of the Uvalde victims have already taken aim at this typical line of defense.

Information about the shooting in Uvalde continues to get released to the public, including the recent release of dozens of body cam videos that were disclosed in early October 2024. This shed more light on how the events unfolded that day, but mostly cemented what all of us already knew. This footage only came about because journalistic entities like ProPublica and Texas Tribune requested them under the Freedom of Information Act, and ultimately sued to get them released.

I'm sure as the months and years continue to pass, many more grim reminders of the tragedy in Uvalde will continue to haunt us.

Sadly, the Uvalde school shooting is just one of the most notable school shootings in U.S. history, simply because of the impotent response by police. Despite the deaths of 21 people, it ranks ninth on the list of deadliest mass shootings in our nation's history, with seven out of the top ten taking place since 2012, the year that the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut took place. Eight if you extend the timeline back to just 2007, when the Virginia Tech shooting was carried out.

The reason that the Uvalde shooting seems to have hit such a nerve for many, myself included, is that it could have - or should have, rather - been avoided. If any amount of police officers amassed outside the school had decided to take action, they might have saved even a single child's life. But they didn't. Earning the entire town of Uvalde a reputation that, much like Sandy Hook or Columbine, it will never be able to shake. It will forever be tied to not just this tragic loss of life, but the cowardice of hundreds of police officers who arm themselves to the teeth with weapons meant to save the lives of the good, but who all just seemingly waited for this conflict to resolve itself.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, normally a pretty reserved man, lambasted the police response during a press conference following the release of the DOJ's report on Uvalde:

"Had law enforcement agencies followed generally accepted practices in an active shooter situation and gone right after the shooter to stop (them), lives would have been saved and people would have survived."

My heart goes out to those that are affected by this episode: the family, friends, and loved ones of the many victims, as well as those in the Uvalde community or the surrounding area. I have no doubt that all of them continue to grieve this heinous loss of life and the ultimate desecration of what's considered a safe space for many, an elementary school. My heart also goes out to any of those that have an emotional response to this episode. This includes those that have survived similar ordeals, or may know someone that was involved in a similar school shooting. This also includes all of you that are just kind, empathetic people who struggle to hear this kinda stuff without getting emotional... I, myself, am right there with you.

I often try not to editorialize too much, but the day this story took place, I was glued to my phone, watching the updates pour in. I admit, I cried multiple times that day, I just couldn't help it. Now with one child in preschool and another on the way, this story is my worst nightmare. But I also think that we as a society cannot overcome our fears without first confronting them.

If this story scares you or upsets you or depresses you... then that's a good thing. It means that you still believe this doesn't have to be the way we live our lives. We've come to believe that stories like Uvalde and Parkland and Columbine and Sandy Hook... that this is all the new normal. But you know what? It doesn't have to be.

Be loud about your beliefs. Stop letting the senseless squawking of others silence you. We've come to think that we should never rock the boat when it comes to issues like politics or guns, but that doesn't have to be the case. We can all get loud and get involved, and together, enact change. And it doesn't have to be quick, knee-jerk responses either, much to the chagrin of those in the gun-lobby that use school shootings as marketing events ("come get your guns now while you still can," that kinda bullshit). We can work together with each other and find compromises. Even if they end up saving just one life in the end - perhaps some innocent child in a classroom somewhere - isn't that worth having a discussion?

I will tell you one thing, though. Until we do have that discussion - as ugly and grim as it may be - nothing will ever fucking change. This single shooting lays out the simple fact that none of us, not even defenseless children, can ever count on a "good guy with a gun" to save us. Not even hundreds of them.

We're going to end this episode with a single second of silence for each innocent life that was lost on May 24th, 2022, and I want you to take that time and reflect on this story. Think about whether or not this is the life you want your loved ones, your children and other young loved ones, to live in.

And for those that think this story isn't "unresolved," you may be technically right. We know who committed this crime and why. We also know who the victims were. But until something is done to prevent crimes like this from taking place, the same thing is just gonna keep happening every single goddamn school year. Children will die. We'll spend a little while mourning, recognizing their loss, and try to figure out why it happened. Then we'll move on with our lives. And the same shit will just happen, again and again and again and again. As stated by U.S. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta:

"No law enforcement agency or community can assume that what happened here - or in Newtown or in Parkland or in Columbine - can't happen in their community. This is our reality."

For the following twenty-one seconds, I want you to think about whether or not this story is worth it... about whether or not you can have any type of impact on the world around you. And every second that passes, I want you to remind yourself that each single second is another life lost that could have been spared, if only us Americans decided to stop being so fucking scared of our own voices. Because until something changes, the circumstances that led to the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas will remain unresolved.

Episode Information

Episode Information

Writing, research, hosting, and production by Micheal Whelan

Published on October 21st, 2024

Music Credits

Original music created by Micheal Whelan

Outro/theme music created and composed by Ailsa Traves

Sources and Other Reading

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