Border Patrol Agents Lacked Proper Training to Respond to Uvalde School Shooting: CBP

Investigators search for evidence outside Robb Elementary School after an 18-year-old killed 19 students and two teachers, in Uvalde, Texas, on May 25, 2022. Jae C. Hong/AP Photo

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said on Thursday that its agents were not properly trained to respond to the deadly shooting incident that occurred in Uvalde, Texas, two years ago.

A total of 188 CBP agents were deployed alongside law enforcement officials to Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, when an 18-year-old fatally shot 19 children and two teachers with an AR-15 rifle.

In a 203-page report released on Sept. 12, CBP said that law enforcement personnel failed to establish command and control protocols at the school, resulting in a “disorganized response” to the shooting.

“No law enforcement official ever clearly established command at the school during the incident, leading to delays, inaction, and potentially further loss of life,” the report states.

Responding CBP personnel also failed to establish command for their own responders at the scene, leading them to take on tasks “on an ad-hoc basis as requested by local law enforcement or at their own initiative,” according to the report.

The CBP also determined that its existing training on active shooter response procedures “did not adequately prepare responding personnel to deal with the situation.”

Investigators found that none of the responding CBP personnel had access to the school layout or knew where to find the keys needed to enter critical areas of the school, according to the report.

The agency concluded that its agents acted within policy during the incident and did not engage in any misconduct. None of the CBP personnel faced disciplinary action, the CBP stated.

The shooting incident has prompted the CBP to change its policies on interactions with local and state law enforcement agencies during critical responses, reevaluate training standards, and improve operational methods to address command-and-control issues.

“The active shooter incident at Robb Elementary School was a profound tragedy and deeply traumatic event,” Troy A. Miller, CBP senior official performing the duties of the commissioner, said in a statement.

“The loss of innocent lives and the enduring emotional scars borne by the survivors, families, community, and first responders are immeasurable.”

Former Uvalde School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo was charged in June with 10 counts of felony child endangerment for his handling of the Robb Elementary School shooting.

The Department of Justice released its own report in January, stating how police made a costly error in assuming that the shooter was barricaded, contained, or dead, even as he continued to fire shots.

“The law enforcement response at Robb Elementary on May 24, 2022, and the response by officials in the hours and days after was a failure,” the report stated.

The shooter, Salvador Ramos, was killed roughly 77 minutes after police arrived on the scene, when a tactical team led by CBP eventually went into the classroom to take him down.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.