Following the devastating Uvalde school shooting at Robb Elementary School, the Texas legislator put together a panel of lawmakers to serve as a committee that would investigate and report the findings of the events that unfolded that day.

On Sunday, the committee released its 77-page report detailing the events leading up to and following the shooting. The report also offered new insight into what happened that fateful day.

The report does not mince words, detailing “systemic failures and egregious poor decision-making.” The report confirms that there were nearly 400 law enforcement officials from seven agencies that responded to the scene. Despite this large police presence, there was a lack of coordination and communication that should have led to the immediate takedown of the shooter. The report details that instead of prioritizing the safety of the children who were in the room with the shooter, responding law enforcement officers prioritized their own safety.

Report Highlights Lack of Leadership

One of the main takeaways of the report was the clear lack of leadership, despite having an abundant number of police officers present.

Prior to the release of the report, leaked surveillance footage of the inside hallway where police were staged showed officers standing around and seemingly hunkering down while the shooter remained in the classroom with the students. At one point, a police officer is seen on the footage walking over to a hand sanitizing station to casually disinfect his hands. Released body cam footage later showed a decreased sense of urgency as officers questioned what they were supposed to be doing.

Much of the blame has fallen on the school district police chief Pete Arredondo. Arredondo was highly criticized by the public before the report and is currently on administrative leave. He also resigned from his position with the Uvalde City Council, a position which he was sworn into just days after the shooting.

According to the report, Arredondo would have been the Incident Commander. As such, he should have been responsible for leaving the building to stage an area where leadership could be delivered and a course of action could be directed to other officers. Instead of taking charge, Arredondo remained inside the building. Body cam footage from officers inside shows Arredondo at one point talking to the shooter while he took cover in the hallway.

Arredondo explained his actions in a testimony sharing, "o me ... once he's ... in a room, you know, to me, he's barricaded in a room." Arredondo added, "Our thought was, 'If he comes out, you know, you eliminate the threat,' correct? And just the thought of other children being in other classrooms, my thought was, 'We can't let him come back out. If he comes back out, we take him out, or we eliminate the threat. Let's get these children out."

Relaxed School Safety Measures Identified

The report also highlighted relaxed school safety measures which allowed the shooter to enter the building much quicker and easier than he should have. The report detailed that over time, the school had developed a culture of complacency regarding lockdown drills and overall school safety. The report highlights that because the school was in an area where there are high frequencies of migrants crossing the border, there were a number of “bailout” alerts pushed through the school's intruder alert system. Because these alerts were so frequent, teachers and staff at the school became desensitized whenever these red flag alerts were pushed out.

School staff also got complacent with continually locking outside doors according to the report. The gunman entered through a door that was left unlocked and was able to quickly gain access to the building. The report details, “had school personnel locked the doors as the school's policy required, that could have slowed his progress for a few precious minutes—long enough to receive alerts, hide children, and lock doors; and long enough to give police more opportunity to engage and stop the attacker."

The report also highlighted that the door to room 111, the room in which the shooter took shelter, had the ability to lock but was not locked at the time of the shooting. The report explained that “extra effort was required to make sure the latch engaged," but that the extra effort was not given, causing the door to remain unlocked.

New Insight Into Gunman

The report also unveiled new information about the gunman and highlighted that a potential motive may have been determined. The gunman used to attend the elementary school and was a student in room 111 when he was in the fourth grade. The report detailed that weeks before the attack had happened, the shooter had reminisced about his fourth-grade experience with an acquaintance.

According to the report and testimony of the shooter’s family, it is believed that the gunman shot with a firearm for the first time during this school shooting.

The Families of Victims Respond to the Report

Outrage and frustration continue to be a theme felt by the families of the victims. Many family members have called for accountability, something that the report did not touch upon. Survivors of the shooting along with their parents are calling for greater action including the resignation of officers who showed up at the scene.

Evadulia Orta, the mother of 10-year-old Rojelio Torres who was killed in the shooting, shared with the Texas Tribune, “They should be charged for not going in and for letting that happen to our kids.”

Many others share that sentiment, calling the police response inadequate and a complete failure. Alfred Garza III, the father of 10-year-old Amerie Jo Garza who also died in the shooting, detailed his outrage by calling out the police failure. “Everybody already knew that before this report was even made,” he said of the inadequate police response. “I was on the site at the school when all this stuff was going down. And I was one of those parents that stood back and let the officers do their job. Well, turns out, they didn’t do their job.”

Following the report, the Texas legislature will come to a conclusion on what their recommendation is to proceed forward. Until then, public outcry has been clear that accountability has to be determined.