The mayor of Uvalde, Texas and a city council member slammed two media outlets on Tuesday for releasing portions of surveillance footage from inside Robb Elementary School days before officials planned to release the video.
The footage shows the gunman firing shots outside the school, entering the building, and then the police response—one that has been roundly criticized as an “abject failure.” One part that stood out to viewers occurs at 12:30, when an officer wearing a ballistic vest casually walks over to a hand sanitizer dispenser on the wall to clean his hands.
As children lay dead and dying in their classrooms while law enforcement did nothing, a Uvalde police officer’s biggest concern is sanitizing his hands.
— Sara Gonzales (@SaraGonzalesTX) July 13, 2022
Words cannot express how furious I am. pic.twitter.com/47wz4ha00O
WATCH: An officer wearing a ballistic vest found ample time during the Uvalde school shooting to squirt hand sanitizer from a dispenser and rub his hands together (12:30 PM timestamp, well before the gunman was killed). pic.twitter.com/hqUnUnUlvD
— Mia Cathell (@MiaCathell) July 12, 2022
BRO IS PUTTING ON HAND SANITIZER WHILE CHILDREN ARE MURDERED...... Rage.pic.twitter.com/JDWOfyNASW
— Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) July 12, 2022
If you’re casually walking up to a hand sanitizer station while little kids are getting blown away and screaming down the hall, your mind has absolutely no thoughts of actually going in to save them. #UvaldePoliceCowards
— Julius Kim (@Julius_Kim) July 13, 2022
No amount of hand sanitizer is going to wash off those hands in Uvalde. None.
— Jack Posobic ???? (@JackPosobiec) July 13, 2022
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A barrage of more than 100 bullets were fired inside those two classrooms over the next two-and-a-half minutes before seven officers ran into the school at 11:36, two of them armed with rifles and four others armed with handguns.
Officers were on the scene before the gunman entered the school, as one officer had the suspect in his rifle sights and asked permission to shoot, but the supervisor either didn't hear the request or didn't respond in time, allowing the suspect to enter the school, according to a report released by the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center.
Regardless, the gunman appeared to fire from inside the classroom at 11:37 at the officers, who retreated back down Ballistic shields arrived at 11:52 a.m. and 12:04 p.m., along with other officers armed with rifles, bulletproof vests, helmets and other tactical gear.
At 12:21 p.m., officers walked down the hallway to position themselves closer to the classroom doorway. At 12:30, an officer can be seen walking over to a hand sanitizer dispenser and disinfecting his hands.
The classroom door was finally breached at 12:50 p.m., 74 minutes after the first officers entered the school. (Fox News)
"I want to go on the record. The way that video was released today was one of the most chicken things I've ever seen,” said Mayor Don McLaughlin about KVUE and The Austin American-Statesman for releasing the video. The mayor took issue with the fact that families were not able to see it first.
Another member of the city council jumped in to say, “The mayor said chicken, it was chickensh*t.”
KVUE, one of the media outlets to release the video, said it took the families into consideration ahead of releasing the video, speaking to some of them as the outlet made its decision. All but one family KVUE spoke with wanted it released but with the screams of children edited out.
At the meeting, one resident in attendance pushed back: “What about the cops? Are they chickensh*t?”
“We’re gonna handle that,” the council member replied.
The mayor added: “Every agency that was in that hallway has to be accountable for their actions that day, everyone, no one will be exempt.”
"Rather than attacking the media, y'all should attack those cops."
— Mike Hixenbaugh (@Mike_Hixenbaugh) July 12, 2022
Uvalde residents react after the mayor and a city council member called journalists "chickenshit" for releasing security camera footage from Robb Elementary. (h/t @ahylton26) pic.twitter.com/rJh80fseYI
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