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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPoor Police Radio Reception Caused Confusion in Texas School Shooting Response, Says Official
UVALDE, TexasThe police officers who waited more than an hour inside a school in which a mass shooter was barricaded were in a position that received only sporadic and unreliable radio communications, according to two officials with knowledge of the investigation and the system.
The lack of direct and clear communication complicated the response to the mass shooting that left 19 fourth-graders and two teachers dead, said a U.S. official with knowledge of the investigation. For over an hour, law enforcement waited in a hallway, instructed not to rush into a classroom in which the gunman had barricaded himself, while children inside were calling 911 pleading for help.
Ultimately, 19 children and two teachers were shot to death in the classroom on May 24 before federal agents from a Border Patrol tactical team known as Bortac breached the doors and killed the shooter.
Exactly what happened with police radio transmissions is part of ongoing investigations by state and federal law enforcement, the U.S. official said
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/poor-police-radio-reception-caused-confusion-in-texas-school-shooting-response-says-official/ar-AAY5wcT
Lovie777
(11,992 posts)Tetrachloride
(7,728 posts)Iggo
(47,487 posts)sinkingfeeling
(51,278 posts)CanonRay
(14,038 posts)madaboutharry
(40,152 posts)Give Me A Fucking Break!
MerryBlooms
(11,728 posts)dalton99a
(81,068 posts)Thunderbeast
(3,383 posts)Hugin
(32,778 posts)Jobs.
sop
(9,946 posts)C'mon, man.
Pas-de-Calais
(9,889 posts)Hav
(5,969 posts)They are acting as if one unit was operating on another planet. They were only standing around. Surely one of them could have made the few steps to the outside of the building if critical information didn't reach them in a reliable manner.
JonAndKatePlusABird
(303 posts)Me.
(35,454 posts)Arredendo (sp.?) didn't have a radio with him to begin with so how could he give commands for them to hear?
keithbvadu2
(36,369 posts)The same communications system they used a few months earlier in training?
vanlassie
(5,637 posts)BlueSpot
(851 posts)Honestly, this is just an embarrassment.
pecosbob
(7,511 posts)Retrograde
(10,070 posts)Frontline troops in WWI - over a hundred years ago - had halfway decent radio communications. NASA astronauts on their way to the moon had decent radio communications. It's not exactly a new technology.
orleans
(33,987 posts)i get this image of the shooter piling up desks and bookcases to actually barricade the door, but then the cops were waiting for a janitor with a key to get into the room by unlocking the door.
i keep thinking they use the word barricade b/c it makes it sound like it was really hard for the cops to break into the room. if they said the killer "locked the door" we'd be thinking "why the hell didn't the cops shoot the lock?"
Jedi Guy
(3,171 posts)It doesn't necessarily mean that the subject has blocked the entrances or anything like that. They nearly always result in a SWAT callout, in my experience.
For whatever reason, the incident commander decided that Ramos was bunkering down and probably taking the kids hostage. He made exactly the wrong decision and now he's scrambling to cover his ass.
As for shooting the lock, that's Hollywood fantasy. In real life, it requires a very powerful gun at close range, plus other specialized gear that's usually only carried by SWAT or other tactical units. Even then, they don't target the lock itself, but the hinges.
Demsrule86
(68,352 posts)Jedi Guy
(3,171 posts)Arredondo stepped up and claimed the mantle of incident commander. At the point he realized that radio wasn't working properly he should have made the decision to flip to conference call via cell phone with the team leaders at the very least, if not every officer on scene. So either A) they had no backup plan on place, or B) Arredondo didn't have the wit to use it.
Arredondo screwed up by deciding to treat it as a barricaded suspect situation, as if Ramos could be reasoned with, rather than an active shooter situation. He's going to have to justify that decision at the end of the day and won't be able to do so.
The other big question I have is why didn't another senior officer take incident command from Arredondo when it became clear he was out of his depth. I've read reports that many officers on scene were frustrated by the decision not to engage Ramos right away. Why didn't someone pull Arredondo aside and tell him they were stepping in?
Whatever the case, Arredondo deserves to go down for this. He blew it.
Rhiannon12866
(202,988 posts)onethatcares
(16,133 posts)run your tag and throw you in jail for a broken license plate light in the middle of the day.
Funny how that works
Novara
(5,754 posts)ENOUGH!
Demsrule86
(68,352 posts)It is a disgraceful response and every cop involved should be fired...from what I heard the Feds went in despite being ordered not. I suppose they wanted all the kids dead so they couldn't say what happened. Instead of going after the shooter, they attacked the parents.
hatrack
(59,442 posts)And Tuesday it'll be Hunter Biden's laptop, and Wednesday a Carrington Event . .
Blah blah blah blah blah.
Aristus
(66,096 posts)And this is todays result