From "Why the Austin American-Statesman chose to publish video from inside Robb Elementary" (Austin American-Statesman).
July 13, 2022
"We are... publishing the entire video for those who want to see what we obtained... [W]e blurred the identity of a child who exits a bathroom as the shooter approaches the classroom."
"The child runs back to bathroom to hide and was later rescued. We also have removed the sound of children screaming as the gunman enters the classroom. We consider this too graphic. We have also chosen to show the face of the gunman as he enters this school. Our news organization guidelines state that we should not glorify these individuals and give them the notoriety that they seek. We chose, in this instance, to show his face to chisel away at any conspiracy that we are hiding something. This last point included much discussion among our senior leaders.... Some three minutes after the shooting begins, three officers initially respond and run to the classroom door, where there is more gunfire, and the three officers retreat to the end of the hallway and stand behind the corners that provide some cover.
For the next hour-plus, officers congregate and amass in the hallway and then more show up. Heavily armed officers from at least five agencies stand in the hallway that lead to the classrooms. These officers carry dozens of high-powered rifles, handguns, vests, helmets, camouflage gear and shields.... After 77 minutes, the video shows the officers breach the classroom."
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55 comments:
Regardless of the outcome in court months or years down the line, I don't know how you could be a cop, operate the way they did, and live with yourself after this display of cowardice.
People would be more forgiving if children had died by friendly fire than your choosing to wait in a hallway for an hour before backup arrives.
Inexcusable.
We have to bear witness to history, and transparency and unrelenting reporting is a way to bring change
Sure, now be consistent.
Will anyone resign or be forced out for their part in this fiasco? When? Will we be told?
Nope, no need to own a gun. The cops will protect you.
"to chisel away at any conspiracy that we are hiding something"
News organizations that do not constantly peddle in the most absurd lies need never concern themselves with this.
And will they also televise the killer when he's convicted and making his final walk to the gallows or gurney? Will the show his face?
Good for the Austin American-Statesman. We need more of this.
"Publish" can now mean "make (content) available online." A bitter pill for the old media?
Owen said...
Will anyone resign or be forced out for their part in this fiasco? When? Will we be told?
It was announced this morning that the Uvalde schools police chief resigned. https://www.texastribune.org/2022/07/02/uvalde-school-police-chief-pete-arredondo-resigns/
This video made me nauseous.
I watched one of the officers, standing behind the corner, come out momentarily into the hallway to get sanitizer for his hands, then back behind the safety of the corner. At least he was disinfected. While children were being slaughtered just feet away.
I'm disgusted by the lot of them, particularly their leaders, who showed nothing, if not cowardice. Sure, I was not there. I cannot say how I would react. True. But I can tell you that I would NOT have done nothing. Armed and trained law enforcement people should have the oomph to know when and how to take action. That their leaders held them back is beyond words. After a couple of hundred rounds, did they think this guy was there to take hostages? For what reason do they think they were issued arms? To keep holstered while they sanitize their delicate hands? My God.
Those feckless cowards don't even have the courage to resign from their jobs. How they are able to show their faces in public is beyond me.
This makes me sick.
What is the point of these police - if they are not trained and ready to act?
Are the donuts waiting?
I say this a someone who supports police.
The Defund the police movement has made these agencies useless.
Parents with guns could have done a better job.
Kudos to the Austin newspaper and TV station for doing this. The public needed to see this. This is real journalism.
All of those cops should have been fired long ago. Discharged for misconduct. No pension.
I am of the firm belief that those local cops are all cowards. They should be run out of town.
The cops had the element of surprise. They had better guns, shields and protective vests. They are trained in how to shoot. The murderer wasn't.
This is one of the most disgraceful incidents of police conduct ever. One hundred times worse than whatever Derek Chauvin did.
A video of "cops" exercising choice and bodily autonomy.
Same mentality.
Temujin:
The hand sanitizer using cop is the perfect metaphor. He didn't want to get his hands dirty or contract covid by rescuing babies. He might as well have been eating a donut. Coward.
Couldn't watch it. When the demon started shooting into the classroom, I had to shut it off.
I don't know about the rest of the country, in CA "It's what's happenin'" was also what black guys called what we we now refer to as soul patches.
My first thought was What's Happening! The 70's tv show. It was hilarious. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What%27s_Happening!!
As for the police response:
Diffusion of responsibility.
Lack of training.
But mostly, a lack of leadership.
What it is, what it was and what it will be.
Yet you applaud when police kill unarmed POC. Perhaps the police shortcomings are rooted in the same defects: power hungry, cowardly, snitches.
The situation has kept changing as stories change. The video seems to end the bullshit.
Protect and serve, or get off the force.
Well, the police were just waiting for the ransom demand. These situations always involve a ransom demand. Right? /s
Guns stop guns.
The most shameful moment of these cops lives has now been broadcast. It's very rare that a person's worst moment on planet earth is caught on camera and then widely broadcast, but there it is. Unlike the shooter, the cops will not enjoy their notoriety, and they will be alone with their thoughts at 3am.....The cops deserve the shame, but this will not help in the recruitment of their replacements. If you're a cop, there's a good chance that any lapse in judgment or courage or display of anger will be caught on camera, and your life will be subsequently destroyed.....This current lapse looks below and beneath the call of duty, but I'm mostly inclined to grade them on a curve. It's the kind of job where you're bound to screw up on occasion.
What a remarkable piece of propaganda, to evoke such immediate and vehement condemnation. Has anybody bothered to review the timeline and match it to the on-screen events?
There is a lot to criticize about the Law Enforcement response in the Uvalde shooting, no mistake, but this story's buildup really took talent. Now most everybody immediately, emotionally, hates every single Uvalde cop. Wow (slow clap).
For want of a good guy with a gun, the children were lost.
Those cops did much damage to the historic image of the courageous Texas Lawman in just a few hours. Their behavior during the incident is something I never imagined I would ever see.
Those poor, helpless kids… who ever thought it possible they and their teachers would be abandoned by Texas law enforcement?
"Nope, no need to own a gun. The cops will protect you."
When seconds count, the police are only an hour away -- just outside your door.
"Howard said...
Yet you applaud when police kill unarmed POC."
This is how you do comedy people. This right here.
@ Aggie - Yes, I've reviewed the time line. It's 77 minutes from when the gunman shows up to when the cops actually try to stop him. Disgusting. A vile dereliction of duty.
@Howard
Yet you applaud when police kill unarmed POC. Perhaps the police shortcomings are rooted in the same defects: power hungry, cowardly, snitches.
Howard, that is slander. You are a real POS. No one applauded the death of a person who OD's on drugs. They just thought it was inappropriate to charge murder against the officer of record.
Why do we need to see this video? Just ghoulish.
Aggie said...What a remarkable piece of propaganda, to evoke such immediate and vehement condemnation.
It doesn't at all follow that because something provokes a widespread reaction, even a uniform one, that it must be propaganda. It seems instead like this particular footage was released in about as neutral a way as possible. If the options are 1.) release nothing 2.) release something/partial footage or 3.) release all the footage then 3.) seems like the most-neutral option. You can quibble with putting tags/text on the video, or choosing to blur or not blur certain things, but I don't think you can make a good case that this video document, as released, is anything close to propaganda.
There could be a perfectly good reason for them to wait.*
For example, if the shooter is not actively shooting, and the police believe that breaching the room now would result in him killing more kids then he would have if they waited and tried to negotiate their release. (Taking into account any kids who are currently injured who could be saved with prompt action but would die due to the delay.
This involves multiple pieces of information that they cannot know and have to guess at. It also involves a bit of a trolley problem. Do you pull the lever when you aren't even sure how many people are on each branch of the tracks?
*I haven't been following the news on this, there may be known facts that eliminate this possibility.
Howard- The national problem with police is the same problem we have with teachers. In most locations, both are members of powerful public employee unions. It is literally almost impossible to fire or discipline a poorly performing employee. In both institutions, bad actors are kept in place because it is impossible to get rid of them. They are shuffled around but can still do damage. Plus, they polite the atmosphere for those who are trying to do their job well.
The supporters of these public employee unions are often liberal Democratic politicians who use the campaign funds to stay in office.
Would you be supportive of eliminating the right to unionize among public employees in an effort to clean house of poor performers? If not, what is your solution to improving both the police and public schools if you can't fire anyone?
Howard: "Yet you applaud when police kill unarmed POC."
Seriously? This is typical progressive cagada!
It is clear, for example, that most of us here understand that George Floyd was not a hero by any sane definition. However, we do not "applaud" his death or anyone else's.
Therein lies the differences between conservatives and progressives. Conservatives value life. Progressives value life when it serves them politically. The latter also value death when it serves them politically, e.g., George Floyd, 60 million aborted babies, Uvalde school children, etc.
This should be posted somewhere in its uncensored entirety...
The media blunted the horrors or 9/11 by censoring and burying all of the video of people jumping out of the World Trade Center buildings...
It was sanitized to make it look like there was just some rubble on the ground...
"Yet you applaud when police kill unarmed POC."
How many unarmed blacks were strung up by the Democrat KKK in the South?
Ignorance is Bliss,
FYI.
"Some three minutes after the shooting begins, three officers initially respond and run to the classroom door, where there is more gunfire, and the three officers retreat to the end of the hallway and stand behind the corners..."
Are Police COWARDS?? If not, WHAT is their Problem??
JAORE said...
Nope, no need to own a gun. The cops will protect you.
the story USED TO BE; "when Seconds count, the police are only Minutes away." Which was a sad story.
But NOW! we find out.. The Rest of The Story
when Seconds count, the police are only Minutes away.. But they'll wait an hour for donuts or something
Kevin said...
For want of a good guy with a gun, the children were lost.
Actually, there WAS a good guy with a gun. One cop (whose daughter was in the school) TRIED to enter the room; but was held by the other police, who shouted:
"we don't have our Donuts yet!! We HAVE TO Wait!!"
Also, Uvalde Police Blocked, Detained Desperate Parents Instead Of Saving The Kids—’Go In There!’
Video footage shows agonized parents screaming and begging the police to do something, but rather than moving to save children from a murderer, they brandished tasers at the crowd and pinned a terrified father to the ground.
Every new detail makes the police response look worse, and people are now calling into question what they are even for if they won’t act to save little children from a gunman until they’re sure their own lives won’t be at risk.
According to the Associated Press, one parent reported that he posed the idea of gathering together and rushing into the school as a group because the police were simply refusing to act as their children were dying.
“Let’s just rush in because the cops aren’t doing anything like they are supposed to,” said Javier Cazares. His daughter, who was in fourth grade, was killed by the gunman.
“Go in there! Go in there!” women shouted at the police, but they didn’t.
“You know that there are kids, right?” says the man filming.
“They’re little kids, they don’t know how to defend themselves!”
..but rather than moving to save children from a murderer, they brandished tasers at the crowd and pinned a terrified father to the ground.
It's funny how you people complain against public employee unions. At the same time you want to give teachers guns.
The comedy rights itself here
I have only seen part of the video and it is disgusting to see these police not assaulting the room with the gunman. I don’t know the law enforcement history of Uvalde schools police Chief Pete Arredondo, but for him to show up at the school crime scene on May 24 with the gunman inside of the school and not have his police equipment with him such as his radio shows his incompetence. With May 24 being a school day, he most likely was on duty. If he was off duty, he is supposed to have his equipment ready to go on a minute’s notice with a cell phone on him at all times. I worked in a law enforcement agency as a civilian for 33 years and every LEO that I worked with was prepared for anything that could happen when they were on duty or off duty, even if it happened overnight while they were sleeping or when on their day off. I could and did call the LEO’s on their work cell phones on their day off and they would pick up immediately, even if all I had for them was a mundane question.
Since May 24, based on my working with LEO’s, I have wondered if Arredondo ended up going for the Uvalde Schools police chief job because he was incompetent in his LEO previous postings and he figured this was a quiet “backwater” job he could hold until retirement without exposing his incompetence. Arredondo supposedly took charge of the tactical situation as the school police chief and supposedly wouldn’t authorize an assault on the classroom (and then allegedly testified that he didn’t know if he was in charge or if it was someone else). And if he had been with the school district for a while, the officers he had probably followed his lead and thought of themselves first instead of following their training of sacrificing themselves to save the lives of the children and school employees.
Why Arredondo still has a job as Uvalde School Police Chief almost 2 months later is stunning. After seeing part of this video, the school district needs to clean house with its LEO staff. Arredondo should never work anywhere as an LEO ever again, not even as a mall cop.
"It's the kind of job where you're bound to screw up on occasion."
It was just a little screw-up. Kids murdered while they hid. Kids bleeding to death while they hid. Cowardly bastards.
"There is a lot to criticize about the Law Enforcement response in the Uvalde shooting..."
Ya think?
"There could be a perfectly good reason for them to wait."
There wasn't.
You people making excuses for the police cowardice we saw in Uvalde should be ashamed. Because that's what it was, pure and simple.
Like Pontius Pilate washing his hands of the matter, the cop to the time to use hand sanitizer.
Blogger Howard said...
It's funny how you people complain against public employee unions. At the same time you want to give teachers guns.
Yeah, only cops should have guns. See how well they used them in Uvalde ?
Public employee unions are fine when they do their jobs. My son has been a firefighter for 20 years. He is also an owner of multiple guns. He has never shot anyone but don't try to burglarize his house.
Blogger Howard said...
Yet you applaud when police kill unarmed POC. Perhaps the police shortcomings are rooted in the same defects: power hungry, cowardly, snitches.
Howard you creepy liar, do you know how many "unarmed POCs" are killed by police each year ? 11 Do you know how many cops were killed last year (mostly by POCs)?
458.
Yes, cowards as I said on day one. One of the assholes here who had a meltdown when I called those cops cowards can continue to defend them. I hope he’s proud of those guys he so vociferously defended from my accusations of cowardice.
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