UVALDE, Texas — U.S. Customs and Border Protection released a 201-page report Thursday examining their agents' response to the Robb Elementary School shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers.
The report examines whether CBP had the authority to respond to a non-federal incident, its emergency medical response and disorganized response.
“No law enforcement official ever clearly established command at the school during the incident, leading to delays, inaction, and potentially further loss of life,” the report reads.
The law enforcement response to the shooting was widely criticized after dozens of agencies responded and it took 77 minutes for them to enter the classroom and kill the shooter. The CBP agents assigned to the Border Patrol Tactical Unit were among those who eventually entered the classroom.
According to the report, 188 Border Patrol agents responded to the shooting, more than any other agency. The first Border Patrol agents arrived at 11:38 a.m., about 6 minutes after the shooter entered the building, according to body camera video released by Uvalde Police Department in 2022. The shooter was killed at 12:50 p.m.
“The active shooter incident at Robb Elementary School was a profound tragedy and deeply traumatic event. The loss of innocent lives and the enduring emotional scars borne by the survivors, families, community, and first responders are immeasurable,” said CBP Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Commissioner Troy A. Miller in a news release. “As our report indicates, we are committed to, and working with our federal, state, and local partners to ensure that our brave officers and agents have effective training, policy guidance, equipment, and legal authority to respond to critical incidents.”
CB’s Office of Professional Responsibility lists findings in its report:
A lack of clear federal authority that appropriately addresses CBP personnel intervening or engaging in a state-level or local-level emergency response to a mass-casualty criminal or critical incident.
A lack of command and control, with multiple law enforcement agencies responding to the scene but no established command and control framework.
Gaps in current training that do not address scenarios in which breaching tactics were required in cases involving locked doors to engage an armed suspect.
Following an internal assessment in advance of the OPR report, as well as the recommendations being released today, CBP leadership has initiated a series of actions to identify remedies for the issues raised in the report. These include:
Changing policies to address CBP interactions with local and state law enforcement agencies during critical incident responses;
Reevaluating training standards to reflect lessons learned; and
Improving operational methods to better address the command-and-control issues that occurred during the incident.
The final report from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) concerning the CBP response to the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde can be read here.