At 11:33 a.m. on May 24, 2022, a mass shooter entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, equipped with a high-powered AR-15–style rifle. The subject immediately started shooting and, within a minute, entered classrooms 111 and 112. Within three minutes of the subject’s entry into the school, 11 police officers arrived inside the school. Hearing continued gunfire, some of the first-on-scene (FOS) police officers ran toward classrooms 111/112. After two officers received grazes from shrapnel, all officers retreated, leaving the teachers and students waiting in the building for more than an hour before the police opened the door, made entry, and engaged the subject. After 77 minutes passed from when the first officers entered the school, and after 45 rounds were fired by the subject in the presence of police, the active shooter incident was over. The subject killed 19 students and 2 teachers; physically injured at least 17 others; mentally and emotionally traumatized hundreds of students, teachers, and loved ones; and left a community and a nation forever changed.

At the request of local officials, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would conduct a critical incident review (CIR) to provide a full accounting of the response by police agencies and personnel. The CIR was led by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services with the support of a team of subject matter experts. Reviewing more than 14,100 pieces of data and documentation, conducting more than 260 interviews, spending a total of 54 days on site, traveling around the United States to observe national-level active shooter training, and researching and analyzing generally accepted practices and standards, the team completed an authoritative accounting of the incident. U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced the release of the resulting report, Critical Incident Review: Active Shooter at Robb Elementary School, on January 18, 2024.¹ Speaking to the families, survivors, and general public during the press conference, Attorney General Garland stated, “The law enforcement response at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022—and the hours and days after—was a failure that should not have happened.”²