Official investigation into ‘too slow’ police action in Texas school massacre | Abroad

Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in a shooting at the school in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday. The eighteen-year-old assailant was shot dead by police. The drama has shocked America and rekindled the firearms debate.

The US Department of Justice said today it will launch an official investigation into police actions during the shooting. The mayor of the stricken town of Uvalde, Don McLaughlin, had previously requested this.

The purpose of the investigation is to prepare an independent report on the police’s actions that day and to draw lessons for other attacks. When it is finished, the report will also be published. The assessment will be “fair, transparent and independent,” it said.

The American police have already been criticized for their approach. It turned out afterwards that 19 police officers were in position early in the hallway of the classroom where the gunman was hiding, but made no attempt to break into the room and stop the man. Instead, it was decided to wait for special units. Later that turned out to be a misjudgment, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety later admitted.

US President Joe Biden arrived in the Texas city of Uvalde on Sunday. Five days after the bloody shooting in a primary school, he wants to show his condolences to the families of the victims.

The 79-year-old president, who has lost two children, has let his emotions run wild after the shooting. In Uvalde, he and his wife Jill first visit a memorial erected in front of the school and then attend a mass. In the afternoon (local time), the Bidens meet with families of victims and survivors of the massacre. Then it is the turn of rescuers.