Amid growing public anger, the US Justice Department said it will probe the police response to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and two teachers were killed.
This comes amid mounting criticism that police didn’t act soon enough to apprehend the shooter. The gunman spent more than an hour inside the school before he was ultimately killed by a tactical unit, despite officers’ earlier arrival at the scene.
“The goal of the review is to provide an independent account of law enforcement actions and responses that day, and to identify lessons learned and best practices to help first responders prepare for and respond to active shooter events,” DOJ spokesman Anthony Coley announced in a statement on Sunday.
The Office of Community Oriented Policing will conduct the review and publish a report with its findings after the review concludes, the department said.
The justice department’s response came hours after US President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden arrived in Uvalde to pay their respects to the victims of the attack.
Watch | Texas school massacre: ‘More kids die because of guns than motor crashes’
Speaking from the White House on Tuesday in the hours after the Uvalde attack, the president made an urgent call for action on gun safety.
“As a nation we have to ask, ‘When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?” Biden said. “When in God’s name are we going to do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?”
Also read | Texas school shooting: Husband of killed teacher dies of heart attack
The latest mass shooting has prompted growing calls for gun control measures at a time when the country has already faced two back-to-back gun attacks within 10 days. Though Republicans have opposed tightening rules.
Also read | ‘Smeared classmate’s blood and acted dead’: Texas school shooting survivors recall the dreadful day
The US has now surpassed 200 mass shootings since the beginning of 2022, reports BBC.
(With inputs from agencies)
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