After spotting the gunman outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, a local police officer supposedly asked permission to engage 18-year-old Salvador Ramos but did not hear back from his supervisor, The Texas Tribune reported.
The revelation was made public following a report released Wednesday by Texas State University's Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center (ALERRT) evaluating Uvalde law enforcement's controversial response to the shooting.
"A reasonable officer would conclude in this case, based upon the totality of the circumstances, that use of deadly force was warranted," the report read. "Furthermore, the UPD officer was approximately 148 yards from the west hall exterior door. One-hundred and forty-eight yards is well within the effective range of an AR-15 platform."
The report further notes that the officer was "concerned that if he missed his shot, the rounds could have penetrated the school and injured students." Still, this wasn't the only time police had a chance to act before Ramos entered the school and didn't take it.
A Uvalde school district police officer reportedly zipped through the school's parking lot so fast that he could not spot the gunman, who was still supposedly in the lot. Additional flaws in school security were also pointed out in the analysis.
Even after Ramos entered the building, officers were said not to have correctly engaged the shooter. The report notes that officers would have ideally "placed accurate return fire on the attacker when the attacker began shooting at them."
"Maintaining position or even pushing forward to a better spot to deliver accurate return fire would have undoubtedly been dangerous, and there would have been a high probability that some of the officers would have been shot or even killed," ALERRT wrote.
"However, the officers also would likely have been able to stop the attacker and then focus on getting immediate medical care to the wounded," the center added.
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