The Texas Department of Public Safety has asked Dr. Mark Escott, the chief medical officer for the City of Austin, to spearhead a team that will investigate whether any of the victims in the Robb Elementary School shooting could have been saved by a faster law enforcement response to the tragedy.
Nearly 400 officers responded to the school on May 24 in Uvalde, Texas, but more than 70 minutes elapsed before a Border Patrol tactical team breached the fourth-grade classroom where the gunman was hiding and stopped the carnage.
Two teachers and 19 children were murdered. A spokesperson for the City of Austin told Fox News Digital that Escott’s probe will examine “injuries sustained by the Uvalde shooting victims to determine whether there may have been opportunities to save lives had emergency medical care been provided sooner.”
Uvalde police officers and other law enforcement officers are seen responding to a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in a bodycam video recorded on May 24, 2022.
(Uvalde Police Department)
The review will likely encompass autopsies, medical records, emergency medical personnel records and other data.
“Our analysis is part of the criminal investigation through the Texas Rangers, so we will complete the report and turn that report over to the Rangers,” Escott told Fox News Digital. “I imagine it will inform that investigation.”
TEXAS OFFICIALS: UVALDE SHOOTING REPORT REVEALS ‘MULTIPLE SYSTEMIC FAILURES’
Four of the victims who were pulled from the classroom either still had a pulse or were still breathing, according to the Austin-American Statesman.
Children run to safety after escaping through a window during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School where a gunman killed 19 children and two adults in Uvalde, Texas, U.S. May 24, 2022.
(Pete Luna/Uvalde Leader-News/Handout via Reuters)
Seven Texas Department of Public Safety officers are under investigation by the agency’s inspector general for their actions during the shooting.
One of those officers, Sgt. Juan Maldonado, was fired last month. Another former officer who was under review, Crimson Elizondo, was hired by the Uvalde School District’s police force last month but was fired days later when it was revealed her actions at Robb Elementary School were being investigated.
Multiple lawmakers who represent Uvalde in the Texas Legislature and U.S. Congress – including Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales and state Democratic Sen. Roland Gutierrez – have called on Texas DPS Director Steven McCraw to resign.
The Robb Elementary School sign is seen covered in flowers and gifts on June 17, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas, the location of a May mass shooting that killed 19 students and two teachers.
(Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
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A spokesperson for the City of Austin said Escott’s review is still in its early stages.
“Similar reviews have been conducted in the past following mass shooting incidents to learn lessons, influence policy development and improve responses to future incidents,” the spokesperson said.
