Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
TASS reports 3 people were injured in a drone attack in the Rostov region, after a fire broke out at a facility in the industrial zone
Ukraine's Ministry of energy reports massive attack on energy facilities in the country
Taiwan's Ministry of Defense: One Chinese balloon was spotted in the Taiwan Strait on Monday
Israeli media reports injuries in ramming operation in al-Naqab.
Sheikh Daamoush: Zionists must remain worried, as they have committed a grave error.
Sheikh Daamoush: All concessions given by Lebanese government to date bore no fruit.
Sheikh Daamoush: It is the duty of the state to protect its citizens and sovereignty, government must push plans to that effect and refuse external pressures, diktats.
Sheikh Ali Daamoush: We are not concerned with any plans so long as enemy not abiding by ceasefire.
Israeli media says reports incoming of suspected ramming operation in Tal al-Sabe', al-Naqab.
Sheikh Daamoush: Sayyed Abou Ali's martyrdom will not undermine resistance or prevent it from continuing his plans.

Uvalde video raises more calls for police accountability

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 14 Jul 2022 13:16
4 Min Read

A nearly 80-minute hallway surveillance video has publicly shown, for the first time, the armed officers as fully armed, yet hesitant.

  • x
  • Uvalde video raises more calls for police accountability.
    Uvalde's video raises more calls for police accountability.

The video taken inside Robb Elementary School reveals law enforcement's perplexing passivity during the May massacre of 19 children and two teachers, folks in Uvalde are asking, "Will police face consequences?"

Only one police cop from the site of Texas' school shooting is reported to be on leave. Authorities have yet to release the names of the officers who milled in and out of a hallway near the adjoining fourth-grade classrooms where the gunman was firing for more than an hour. And, over two months later, there is still confusion about who was in command.

The Austin American-Statesman published a nearly 80-minute hallway surveillance video that revealed for the first time — with disturbing and painful clarity — a hesitant and haphazard tactical response by fully armed officers that the head of Texas' state police has condemned as a failure and some Uvalde residents have blasted as cowardly.

Read next: Police in Uvalde had rifles earlier than known

However, it is uncertain whether the conduct – or inaction – of officers at the school on May 24 will result in much more than condemnation, even as calls for responsibility and outrage grow. City and state officials have asked residents to wait for the results of the investigations.

There is evidence that impatience is increasing: Residents yelled from their seats during a City Council meeting on Tuesday, hours after the video was released, demanding to know whether the officers involved in the shooting were still on the force or getting paid. Members of the council did not respond. “What about the cops?” one person yelled.

The police ran away 

The footage from an inside school hallway camera shows the gunman entering the building with an AR-15-style rifle and includes 911 tape of a teacher screaming, "Get down! Enter your rooms! "Go to your rooms!"

Two officers approach the classrooms minutes after the gunman enters then flee amid gunshots. Minutes pass, and more gunshots are heard from the classrooms as other officers from various agencies approach. After more than an hour, a team eventually advances down the corridor, breaches the classrooms, and ends the massacre.

Several officers are visible in the footage, some of them are armed with guns and bulletproof shields. During the extended wait to meet the gunman, one man in body armor and a vest labeled "sheriff" squeezes a few pulls from a dispenser situated on the wall.

It's a far cry from the image described by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott the day after the massacre when he hailed the quick reaction and cops who "showed amazing courage by running toward gunfire." Abbott later stated that he was given incorrect information but did not specify who provided it to him.

One charged cop 

After the 2018 shooting at Parkland High School in Florida that killed 17 people, a deputy who knew the gunman was loose but refused to go inside was arrested on criminal charges.

Legal experts have called that an extremely rare case of someone essentially being charged for not going into harm’s way and have expressed skepticism about the case, which is set for trial in February.

Mayor Don McLaughlin of Uvalde said it was too early to judge whether any policemen should be removed from the department. “I don’t know they need to step down,” he said. “But everything needs to be reviewed.”

Read next: Biden urges action against gun lobbies after Texas school shooting

So far, only one cop has been publicly reported to be on leave: Pete Arredondo, the Uvalde school district police chief who also resigned from his newly elected City Council seat last month. He has denied that he was in control of the scene, as stated by state police.

Greg Shaffer, a Dallas-based security consultant and retired member of the FBI's hostage rescue team, believes the police in the video should change careers.

“I think everyone in that hallway should reconsider their career choice,” he said. “If you don’t have the courage and the mindset to run toward gunfire, as a police officer, then you’re in the wrong profession.”

Read next: Uvalde school massacre gunmaker not to attend NRA convention

  • Uvalde
  • Texas
  • US shooting
  • Gun Violence

Most Read

Inside the Epstein-Rothschild web behind 'Israel’s' spy tech empire

Inside the Epstein-Rothschild web behind 'Israel’s' spy tech empire

  • Politics
  • 19 Nov 2025
Hezbollah announces the martyrdom of Haitham al-Tabatabai

Hezbollah announces the martyrdom of commander Haitham Tabatabai

  • West Asia
  • 23 Nov 2025
Democracy at the civilizational crossroads: Critical analysis of bourgeois Democracy, its alternatives

Democracy at the civilizational crossroads: Critical analysis of bourgeois Democracy, its alternatives

  • Analysis
  • 19 Nov 2025
US readies covert, military measures to oust Maduro: NYT

US signs off on covert CIA operations inside Venezuela: NYT

  • Politics
  • 19 Nov 2025

Coverage

All
In Five

Read Next

All
Vassily Nebenzia, permanent representative of Russia to the United Nations, speaks during a meeting of the UN Security Council, March 29, 2022, at United Nations headquarters (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
Politics

Russia alarmed by reports of Israeli funding for anti-Hamas groups

A Lebanese citizen shouts slogans as he carries a portrait of Hezbollah's Chief of Staff Haitham Tabtabai during his funeral procession in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Nov. 24, 2025. (AP)
Politics

IRGC: Hezbollah, AoR hold right to avenge martyr Al-Tabatabai

A Palestinian carries the body of a man killed while trying to receive aid near a distribution center operated by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in Netzarim, in the Gaza Strip, Aug. 4, 2025. (AP)
Politics

GHF meets 'deserved' end in Gaza after enabling genocide: Hamas

Ali Larijani, Secretary of Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and Pakistan's Ambassador to Iran in the background (X/@AmbMudassir)
Politics

Larijani’s Pakistan visit signals strategic regional alignment: Excl.

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS