The US border crisis helped create lax security at the Uvalde school where 19 fourth-graders and two teachers were slaughtered, an explosive report from Texas shows.
State lawmakers investigating the horrific mass shooting noted in their findings a major problem plaguing Texas’ border towns as law enforcement increasingly spotted vehicles suspected of smuggling people — and said the situation contributed to “relaxed vigilance” at the school during the May attack.
The report explains that when authorities attempt to stop a suspicious vehicle, the driver often refuses to stop and drives away, a dangerous occurrence that often results in a crash and the operator and his passengers abandoning or “rescuing” the car.
Such “rescues” in Uvalde routinely set off security alerts for local schools, including Robb Elementary. But because the whistleblowers don’t usually pose a danger to the school, they end up being treated a bit like the boy who cried wolf, the Pols report said.
One of the factors “contributing to relaxed vigilance [at Robb Elementary] was the frequency of security alerts and campus lockdowns as a result of the recent increase in “rescues,” the report said.
“The frequency of these ‘rescue’-related alarms — about 50 of them between February and May 2022 — contributed to a diminished sense of vigilance in responding to security alerts,” the probe’s findings said.
Frequent “rescues” from stopped drivers may have delayed the police response to the Uvalde school shooting, a report says. AP/Dario Lopez-Mills
In the minutes before the Uvalde school massacre, 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos stole his grandmother’s truck after shooting her in the face.
Ramos, who did not have a driver’s license, crashed the truck near Robb Elementary, got out of the car and started shooting at his alma mater before easily walking into the building and killing his innocent victims.
The belief by some authorities that the Ramos crash was just another bailout may have slowed the police response, the report said.
Before the shooting, Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin told The Post that “bailouts” forced schools to close 48 times last year. AP/Eric Gay
In an ominous twist, two months before the massacre, Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin spoke to The Post about the “bailout” scourge plaguing his and other border towns.
“Forty-eight times last year we had to close public schools because of bailouts in our community — 48 times, but you don’t hear that on the news,” McLaughlin said.
Local, state and federal law enforcement also came under heavy fire for failing to storm the classroom that became Ramos’ killing field for more than an hour.
Salvador Ramos crashed his grandmother’s truck near Robb Elementary School before breaking into the building. REUTERS/Marco Bello
Nearly 400 supposedly do-nothing police had converged on the scene of the rampage as the clock ticked down – and bloodshed reigned inside.
“At Robb Elementary, law enforcement officers failed to adhere to their active shooter training and failed to prioritize saving innocent lives over their own safety,” the report said.
“A lack of leadership may have contributed to the loss of life as the injured victims waited for over an hour for help and the assailant continued to fire his weapon sporadically.”
In response to the findings, the school district told The Post it will add security measures before the start of the 2022-2023 school year, including a new perimeter fence, additional security cameras, upgraded doors and additional police officers.
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