The 18-year-old gunman fatally shot 19 students and two teachers in what turned out to be the third deadliest shooting in the United States.
And while those in the community closest to the families who've suffered tragic losses are still in mourning, others have castigated the officers who waited for 78-minutes on-site before breaching the classroom to de-escalate the situation.
Curious to hear from other law enforcers, Reddit stupsssss15 asked:
"To police officers, how are you feeling seeing how the situation was handled in Texas?"
A Desired Place For Them
"My city had a mass shooting where 10 people died 3 years ago, it took six responding officers 32 seconds to kill the active shooter."
"My coworker is a relative of one of the officers who responded that night. She told us that he thinks these cops 'deserve to burn in Hell for abandoning those children.'”
– TheOldOak
It's What We Do
"Not a cop but did do fire for a bit."
"I'm not a brave person at all, and I'm not going to pretend to be some hairy a**ed hero. But what we do is a service."
"We're here for them."
"When it's time to go then it's time to go."
"No sh*t you're scared. So is everyone else going interior. That doesn't mean you don't do it. Because as scared as you are, the person trapped inside is f'king terrified, and has none of the protection that you do."
"I honestly consider their response not just to be incompetence, since that assumes good intent and just being a f'k up. In my eyes this was dereliction of duty. Especially if the bit about cops going in to save their own kids and leaving the rest is true. Or the part about Border Patrol going inside in defiance of orders."
"I don't think it's unfair at all to say people should be going to prison over this."
– Guilty_Assignment_25
Cowards
"Military Police here: I am angry beyond words at the tragedy that has taken place. MP training is direct to threat and even without hearing gunshots we are required to breach the building and begin securing it so if people are shot inside we can create a clear corridor for casualties to be collected and treated."
"These cowardly pieces of sh*t should turn in their badges and be held accountable for their inaction."
– theknights-whosay-Ni
"It's Our Job"
"I literally never comment on anything but felt like I should here. I’ve only been on the job for a year and change in the largest department in America and while we’re definitely not perfect I’ve been to a few shootings personally and even with shots ringing out within visual range I’ve never seen any one of my coworkers run away or just wait for ESU cause they 'could get shot' and I know I’ve never run away."
"While I can understand being afraid I can’t understand not doing your job we’re first responders and as such it’s our job to go in there and get it done backup be damned. I hate Monday night quarterbacking but I’ve risked my life on this job for wayyyyy less so when other officers wait idle while kids get gunned down it makes me mad."
– Different_Handle1254
Demand For An Overhaul
"I work for a Sheriff's Department and have gone in to a few active shooter situations, if it's true that officers were standing outside, there needs to be some jobs on the chopping block. Also, it's obvious what departments do active shooter training and which ones don't. Sounds like that whole department needs an overhaul."
– AtwaterKent
Suggested Charges
"Retired LEO: the words 'disbelief' and 'disgusted' hardly scratch the surface. Charge all of them with negligent homicide/involuntary manslaughter."
"To add to the points the others are making: imagine the effect on the children's parents. They already have the horror of their child being killed - knowing that their last moments were filled with terror and pain - but that's now compounded by the thought that their child could have been saved, if it were not for the cowardice of the people they trusted to protect them. These poor souls are now broken."
– anon
"Something Has To Change"
"Was on one of the parents FB pages- whose children survived- and he has massive survivor’s guilt. Says he regrets standing outside, also said 'I was always one of those people that said if it happened at my kids’ school I’d go in… and I didn’t.'"
"Friends and neighbours kids died. He’s posted clips of him driving near the school at all hours of the night. I know he’s not alone, and I’m not sure they’ll ever get over it. Something has to change."
– DucDeBellune
An Awful Thought
"God awful thought - some parents will ask 'was it quick,' with a shake of the head indicating that perhaps their child could have been saved with an actual police response."
"It's hard to see how a community can pull through that without a lot of accountability for inaction being shown."
– TheMania
Like Accomplices
"What's really an extra level of sick on top of it all is that they went in there and got their own kids and they left the other kids. And then they stopped the parents from going to save their own kids. That makes no sense at all. It's almost as if they were on the same side as the killer. It's almost as if they're accomplices."
– Mypantsohno
Objectionable SCOTUS Ruling
"Ashamed of this agency and their so-called chief. If the shooter is isolated, you wait because time is on your side to negotiate. If they are actively shooting people, action must be taken. Just because the SCOTUS says there’s no duty to intervene, I think most LE agencies’ policy and (obviously) public opinion beg to differ."
– AffectionateWalk6101
Over In The UK
"In Britain, there was an attacker with a machete on London Bridge and our unarmed police officers ran towards him with only pepper spray and batons, literally ‘hitty sticks’. In fact, one was an off duty transport police officer with no gear at all."
"I can’t fathom the slowness of the response in Texas."
– lunarpx
Blood On Their Hands
"A doctor, Dr Cheng, literally tackled a gunman in a church recently sacrificing himself for everyone in that church when he died taking him down. I hope these cops look at his story and acknowledge their cowardness every day. The lives of those children are on their hands and it would've been better to have let the parents go in and do their job for them."
– IroningSandwiches
"No Excuse For Police Leadership In Uvalde"
"Federal law enforcement here."
"I took a 1-day active shooter training last year. The the theme they kept hammering into us was 'Stop the killing, so you can stop the dying.' Meaning, you need to find the shooter as fast as possible to kill or incapacitate him. Nothing else matters before then. They had role players with like fake blood/injury kits on screaming for help and we just stepped around/over them in our way towards the sound of gun fire. Once the shooter is dead, then you sprint back and start evacuating and treating people. Also, you go in alone or grab a couple other responders on your way in. You don’t methodically clear rooms, you don’t “secure” stuff, and you certainly don’t try to do crowd control."
"I see a lot of people on reddit say 'standard police procedure is (fill in the blank)' and they are usually wrong. However, almost everyone is exactly right on what I’ve seen about active shooter training. And it’s been that way since f'king columbine! There is no excuse for police leadership in Uvalde to not know this."
"Typically I try to not judge people in these scenarios because there so many different factors and challenges that affect your decision making. However in this case (and in Parkland), f''k these guys. They should be fired and never work in law enforcement again. A lot of people, some police included, sometimes think that valor is like an everyday thing. It’s definitely not (that’s why we hand out medals for it) but to see officers just stand outside that classroom as children were shot and bleeding to death is awful and unforgivable."
– fedman1776
Questioning Law Enforcement Funding
"My dad taught active shooter classes for years before he was retired and I helped out with the exact training scenarios you are talking about. In one, I even roleplayed the shooter when I was about 14 years old. We had kids crying out for help in the hallways as I was shooting blanks down the hallway of my high school."
"It was an insane experience to go through, but we knew what we were doing could potentially save lives if the unthinkable were to happen."
"Looking at this response by police who in theory had this training just a few months ago, I'm not so sure. It's one thing to play out a scenario and say all the right answers in the training and another thing entirely to put your life on the line to save children."
"The argument that the Blue Lives Matter folks have had the whole time in regards to defending the police is that the cops are heros who need resources to save us in the face of tragedy. When I see a video of nearly 20 cops standing outside a slaughter house detaining screaming parents armed with rifles, what exactly is it that we are paying for? This incident has me rethinking a lot of things in regards to how we as a country should be viewing and funding our law enforcement."
–nrain91
Mental Health As An Arguement
"The 40% part is what puts me over the top on this. If one side wants to argue it's all mental health and not a gun issue, then in this situation, half that budget should now be allocated to making mental health available and affordable for the county. Let's see them put their money where their mouth is."
– moriarty70
In addition to the condemnation of the police officers who failed to effectively take action, politicians–particularly Republicans–remain denounced for enabling mass shootings to continue in the U.S.
When will it ever be enough?
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Reddit user RoundTriagonalSquare asked:
and I gotta be honest here people, I'm kind of disappointed in us collectively speaking. The sheer number of people out here in the universe wearing other people's pants is just staggering. At least that's what some of us would have police officers believe.
I'm not advocating lying to law enforcement ... all I'm saying is that if you're going to do it, at least make sure it's a new one, ya know? Not like these people.
The Pants Dance
"These aren't my pants"
Blew me away the first time I heard it. Laughed my butt of for the next few times after that. Then it became routine, maybe once every couple of weeks someone would try it.
Typically when they were being arrested, we'd have to search them for inventory and find: pipes, baggies, knives, etc. Which - according to the suspect- just happened to be in the pants when they put them on, and didn't notice they were in the pocket until we found them.
Dehydration
As we were treating the patient, the officer tried to get the story. Apparently, when the guy came home there was a man inside their house. His girlfriend, who was home, "did not know who the man was." (yup, she was cheating.)
The boyfriend "politely asked the gentlemen to leave," which he obliged. But the boyfriend thought he saw the random man in their house grab something and drive away. (Boyfriend and side dude fought. Side dude left.)
Out of frustration, he became so "dehydrated" that he wanted to go to the store immediately and get water. Which is when he promptly rammed into the car of said "random man." (Boyfriend got angry, chased him down, rammed his car.)
He then proceeded to get whooped by said "random man." (Oops. That didn't work out the way he had planned.)
Moral of the story is don't make decisions when you're "dehydrated."
Murdered Over Noodles
GiphyPolice officer of 24 years here. This is not an unbelievable lie, but rather a believable lie followed by an unbelievable truth.
When I worked homicide we responded to a dead body fallen from a high rise apartment call. The deceased is an elderly, Asian male. When we went upstairs and met with the wife, an elderly Asian woman, she told us he jumped and committed suicide in front of her.
She was hysterical and distraught. After talking to her for awhile, she revealed that he hadn't actually meant to commit suicide.
He pissed her off when he demanded dinner. He asked her for noodles and then went and took a nap. When water was boiling, she poured the boiling hot water on his face and body.
He woke from the nap disoriented, in shock and in horrible pain - and jumped out the window. Dead. 11 stories. Yes, he had scathing burn marks on his face when we inspected his body. She was arrested for murder.
Pants Again
Found a baggy of coke on a guy arrested in the courthouse, on his court date, after sentencing. He knew he had that court date and brought the coke anyway. His response when I pulled it out of his pocket?
"These aren't my pants, I borrowed them from my friend two years ago."
Donations
Got a call about a robbery. An elderly guy had been punched and someone stole his phone. The victim had a bloody mouth and gave a very good description of the suspect. I found the guy at a nearby bus stop and put him in cuffs. He had the phone sticking out of his back pocket. His story was that the victim walked up to him and just gave it to him.
Uh-huh
And then while I looked in a different direction for a second I looked back and he had been able to reach around in front of him and was digging in the front pocket of his hoodie. I pulled his hand out and he was holding a wad of crack. He immediately said that this wasn't his hoodie and some guy just gave it to him. But it was a different guy than the one with a phone.
Now he wasn't wearing a shirt under the hoodie and it was in the mid 30's. I guess he was just walking around with no shirt on and people just decided to donate stuff to him.
We don't catch the smart ones folks.
Whaaaaaaat?
We were searching a car and found meth and pipe next to the passenger, the driver (in the most unconvincing tone possible) said "Whaaaaaat? I can't believe that...that's crazy...I would never expect that from her. I'll be honest with you, (usually means they're about to lie) I had no idea she had that."
Two minutes later I go to search him and unsurprisingly find another bag of meth at his feet, just under the bumper of the car. He said it was there when he got out of the car.
Red-handed
I quite literally had a case involving a guy doing graffiti with red spray paint. He tried to deny that it was him when we caught up to him - with red paint all over his hands...
In HD
GiphyThe dickheads who deny its them in the HD quality CCTV of them shoplifting is always a laugh. Especially when they have been caught just after and they are in the same clothes, same obviously Tatts, everything.
Great Throw (Yup, More Pants)
Had a woman say, when a baggie of suspected coke was found in her pants pocket, that "some one threw it over the stall wall while I was in the bathroom and it landed in my pocket."
Undercover
"I'm really undercover following this lady around she's a known meth dealer" - from an obvious crack head...
The funny footage shows a cop being busted out of the bathroom with the heavy-duty ram after getting stuck.
The huge red enforcer - dubbed the big red key - is normally used to smash down the doors of hardened criminals.
The 30-second clip opens with an officer from an unidentified force striding into the toilet with the 35lb battering ram over his shoulder.
UK Cop Humour / SWNS.com
He then checks that his colleague is not behind the door, asking:
"Are your trousers up or what - are you ready to go?"
UK Cop Humour / SWNS.com
Given the go-ahead, the officer easily breaks into the bathroom with just one swing and frees the trapped man.
UK Cop Humour / SWNS.com
He then emerges to the laughter and cheers of his assembled colleagues - and appears to look a bit sheepish.
UK Cop Humour / SWNS.com
The video was filmed earlier this month.
The owner did not want to reveal which force was involved.
He joked:
"What is the cake fine for getting yourself locked in the bathroom and having to be saved by Firearms?"
Untied.
GiphyMy nephew when he was like 7 used to always drop to his shoes and quickly tie them whenever he saw me. Apparently my sister in law told him that it's illegal to have your shoes untied. brittkay83
Hey Uncle.
I was at a traffic light, waiting to cross and I saw this lady with her young son across the street. The kid was running around yelling and generally not listening to his mum.
As I crossed the street I heard the mother say "IF YOU DON'T BEHAVE I'LL ASK THE POLICE UNCLE (Uncle?? Lady, i'm like 23.) TO CATCH YOU. Look! He's here already!"
Kid stops dead in his tracks, looks at me, wordlessly bursts into tears and starts hugging his mother's leg.
Mother gives me an apologetic smile. I'm trying not to giggle as I walk on. fuyuame
Emptied....
My dad and I both work for the same PD, this is his story not mine. The shift before he had a guy detained for misdemeanor warrants or something. Some junkie comes walking down the road, sees the flashing lights and a cop next to a open back door.
He empties his pockets dumping a pipe, needles, and 5 grams of meth on the hood of his patrol car. He then spreads his legs and puts his hands on the car. My dad was shocked, let the other guy in the back go and took in the guy who just handed over his meth. Apparently not sleeping for 3 days makes you paranoid. Birdyy2
Seeing Red.
One day I was headed to my station at the end of shift (meaning I stare straight ahead and avoid getting any paperwork to make me stay late) I happened to be behind the same car for maybe 2 miles on the same road. We're sitting at a red light and out of nowhere this dude runs it.
Everyone at the intersection looks at me so of course I stop the dude. Make contact and he can barely hand me his license he's shaking so bad from being nervous. Ask why he's so scared and he says he saw me behind him and he's on diversion... For running a red light. Also ends up having weed in the car. brentpepe
Oh fuuudddgggeee......
GiphyWhere I work it is illegal to walk around in public with open liquor. At the time I was on patrol and driving a Crown Vic. As I was going down the street a guy must have thought I was a taxi cab and he tried hailing me with an open can of beer. Once he realized I was a police officer he looked just like Ralphy from a Christmas Story. "Oh fuuudddgggeee." I was laughing so hard I didn't have the heart to give him a ticket. One-Eyed-Willies
People Explain Activities They've Added To Their Post-Pandemic Bucket List | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
While we've all been cooped up for the better part of two years, many of us have been dreaming up exciting plans for the future. Maybe it's finally time to s..."fair enough"
This question reminds me of an experience I had as a kid. My friend (who was black, probably plays a role into how things panned out) was interested in becoming a DJ so he invested a lot of money into amps, turntables, subwoofers, etc. He used the same equipment in his car as he did with his turntables, and just powered them off a 12v power supply when using them outside his car. Well we're sitting in his back yard, and he's messing around with the turntables, when a cop car just pulls up all slow.
The back yard was separated from the alley by just a chain link fence. The cop in a suspicious voice says "Hey, do you have a receipt for all that equipment?" and without missing a beat my friend claps back with "Do you have a receipt for those shoes you're wearing?" And the cop just kind of nods as if to say "fair enough" and gets back in the car and leaves. m31td0wn
Be Peaceful....
One time we had a shirtless man enter the lobby of the jail yelling he was a DEA agent. We was demanding that we release two inmates to him (his girlfriend and friend). After he was in cuffs it turned out the two people he was after had already been released the day before. When we ran his name, he had a felony warrant for impersonating a peace officer. :) Joe21821
Hat Lost.
I'm not an officer, but one lovely summer day in downtown Seattle, my children and me were wandering around at Pike Place Market, riding the monorail, etc. They were roughly four and five at the time.
A street artist had made my daughter a balloon "crown" with a big flower poking out the top. She was wearing it on her head when we passed by an alley and it blew off into the street. It exploded piece by piece, with each piece echoing down the street like a gunshot.
Two street officers and two mounted officers (on horses) were there in the blink of an eye. They saw the balloon parts, and realized what had happened. My daughter was crying, the officers were shaken but laughing, and this, being Seattle,(Latte Land) prompted one officer to say that we owed them all a coffee.
My daughter was sad to lose her "hat", but the mounted officers let my children pet the horses, so everything worked out fine. Ghost_of_a_Black_Cat
Staring Out.
I frequent a tavern in my city. A cop stops by every now and then for dinner to go and chills in his squad car for a couple minutes waiting for staff to walk the food out since he doesn't want to make patrons nervous. I was out smoking and there he is patiently waiting out back. Another patron walks out and stops dead in his tracks when he sees the idling cop car. He stares for a couple seconds, spins around and walks back inside. Had me dying for a minute. C3P_Yo
