An utterly horrifying video has been released showing the failed Uvalde police response during the massacre at Robb Elementary school in May where a gunman shot and killed 19 children and two teachers.
Surveillance video obtained by the Austin American-Statesman shows a scene in which heavily armed and heavily armored officers from multiple departments do little to stop the carnage that took place over a 77-minute span.
And while they find no time to take action in an attempt to save the lives of children and teachers in the classrooms, a pair find a moment to share a fist bump while another officer can be seen making use of a hand sanitizer dispenser in the hallway.
The newspaper edited down a 4-minute clip that shows a paired-down timeline of the attack. They had to edit out the screams of children to make the video somewhat less disturbing.
It is nothing short of excruciating to watch the monumental failure of those put in charge to serve and protect the community – especially its children.
Please be aware that the video is very disturbing.
RELATED: Uvalde Police HAD Protective Shields, Weapons, Tools – Still Waited For Over an Hour
Uvalde Surveillance Video is Difficult to Watch
The Austin American-Statesman also published the full surveillance footage in its entirety on their YouTube page.
The video confirms previous reporting that Uvalde police officers in the school certainly had the protective equipment and firepower necessary to confront the killer, but waited over an hour for orders directing them to do so regardless.
The newspaper describes the scene as such:
(The video) shows in excruciating detail dozens of sworn officers, local, state and federal — heavily armed, clad in body armor, with helmets, some with protective shields — walking back and forth in the hallway, some leaving the camera frame and then reappearing, others training their weapons toward the classroom, talking, making cellphone calls, sending texts and looking at floor plans, but not entering or attempting to enter the classrooms.
Outrage poured in from all corners as portions of the video showed an officer cleaning his hands with sanitizer while others remained outside and continued to do nothing, even as shots continued to ring out.
Would love to hear from this Uvalde cop why he was worried about putting on hand sanitizer while a shooter was massacring kids twenty feet down the hall pic.twitter.com/2F3oPqW3gp
— Cabot Phillips (@cabot_phillips) July 12, 2022
In another segment of the video, the Statesman reports, “two officers in camouflage fist-bump each other” at 12:41, well over an hour after the gunman entered the Uvalde school and nearly 10 minutes before the classroom is breached and the killer is put down.
Uvalde cops squirt sanitizer in their hands, stroll the hallways, mess around on their ‘Punisher’ phones…and fist bump each other while little kids are being slaughtered. pic.twitter.com/mFop9ZZ2W5
— Tubohm (@DendriteChirp) July 13, 2022
Police Officer Whose Daughter Was Killed Is Restrained Outside the Classroom
In yet another excruciatingly sad scene, video footage of the Uvalde police response to the shooting reportedly shows Sheriff’s Deputy Felix Rubio being restrained outside the classroom where his 10-year-old daughter Lexi was killed.
“As multiple law enforcement agencies finally begin to engage (the shooter), an officer who stays back steps across a physically restrained Rubio to use hand sanitizer,” the Daily Mail reports.
“During the video, Rubio can be seen looking on helplessly, crying and gesticulating. At one point, a second officer has to help to restrain him,” they continue.
These cowards spent 77 minutes doing nothing while children were murdered.
“17 officers RAN AWAY from gunman – and one stopped for HAND SANITIZER – as he sprayed 100 rounds into two classrooms full of kids.” https://t.co/vkhpoGYuV0
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) July 12, 2022
Previous reporting by The Political Insider revealed a similar harrowing scenario in which another Uvalde police officer whose wife had called him from inside the classroom as she lay bleeding heavily was reportedly detained and had his gun taken away when he tried to save her.
“She says she is shot,” Ruben Ruiz of the school district police force told other officers on the scene.
An official with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) told the Texas Tribune last month that “Ruiz was soon escorted away by other officers on the scene.”
Wow. Eva Mireles, a Uvalde teacher, called her husband and told him she had been shot and was dying.
Her husband, a police officer, tried to take down the shooter but was detained by other officers and had his gun taken away. https://t.co/fPgfra6n5z
— Sawyer Hackett (@SawyerHackett) June 22, 2022
DPS Director Col. Steven McCraw confirmed that Officer Ruiz was prevented from saving his wife, Uvalde teacher Eva Mireles.
“What happened to him, is he tried to move forward into the hallway,” McCraw said. “He was detained and they took his gun away from him and escorted him off the scene.”
Mireles later died from her injuries.
The guy who stopped for hand sanitizer also had time to check his phone. Just doing anything other than attempting to save the screaming children down the hallway pic.twitter.com/Gd2Lk5xeuH
— Sophie Ross (@SophRossss) July 13, 2022
Over a dozen students in the classroom were still alive during the timeframe that the Uvalde surveillance video played out. Many of the victims were bleeding due to the wounds they suffered. One teacher died while being transported by ambulance.
But one officer in a helmet prevented himself from catching a cold by using hand sanitizer, a pair of other officers got to buddy up with a hearty fist bump, and another was able to check his text messages.
These men must truly be proud of their actions, or rather, inaction.
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