Texas shooting.
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Jesus.
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From the RWEC:
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As teased by Karen earlier, here it is. Or at least, here’s a heavily truncated version edited by the Austin-American Statesman.
It’s not awful because it’s graphic. It isn’t. Even the children’s screams have been removed from the audio, the viewer is gently reassured at one point.
It’s awful because it brings home the extent of the cops’ paralysis in a way nothing else can. Even at just four minutes in length, with cops visible in the hallway for only about half that time, the extent of the delay is maddening. You’ll want to crawl through the screen after 60 seconds or so and head down towards the shooter yourself.
They’re outside the door of the classroom at 11:37 a.m. but a few shots from the gunman send them fleeing in terror. That’s when the long wait begins.
An officer briefly checks his smart phone at one point. Another, later in the standoff, helps himself to some hand sanitizer from the dispenser on the wall as he waits around. Ballistic shields are on scene at 11:52, but nothing happens.
There’s finally movement at around 3:15 of the clip, but pay close attention to the “real time” clock in the upper left-hand corner. The police begin making their way down the hallway at 12:21, shortly after they hear the gunman fire four more shots. But it’s another half-hour before they finally enter and take him down.
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I was surprised with how fast the first responders were in the hallway (within 3 minutes), although maybe because they had been chasing the kid and/or called in as the kid was walking towards the school firing shots.
Anyway...they initially charge towards the classroom, but back away once shot at. Ok, understandable... but jeez, you have at least 5 cops, it's easy for me to say behind a screen and keyboard, but how do you not charge the room within a few minutes?
I'm glad they removed the audio of the children screaming. Not sure I could listen to that. I'd imagine an unedited version will be leaked at some point.
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All boils down to training and command.
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Time-lapse, in case you don't want to watch an hour of cops standing around:
