Flaws identified in police response to mass shootings

The mass shootings at a Texas elementary school and a Fourth of July parade in Illinois could have potentially been prevented if proper actions were taken, according to reviews of both deadly attacks.

Police missed more than one opportunity to stop the 18-year-old gunman who opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 schoolchildren and two teachers on May 24, according to the report from an investigation by the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center.

At the start of the shooting, a school district police officer first arriving at the scene drove through the parking lot on the west side of the school building at a high speed, while the suspect was in the parking lot. The officer failed to see him.

"If the officer had driven more slowly or had parked his car at the edge of the school property and approached on foot, he might have seen the suspect and been able to engage him before the suspect entered the building," the report said.

Another responding Uvalde police officer spotted the suspect carrying a rifle outside the west hall entry before he entered the school.

There were numerous points in time when the police officers on the scene should have acted because the gunman was firing, and the officers knew the injured needed urgent care.

Another missed opportunity was to breach the classrooms. Officers on the scene asked for a master key to open the doors, but later examination indicated they were not locked because they can only be locked from outside with a key. The report said: "It does not appear that any officer ever tested the doors to see if they were locked."

Rules not followed

In the July 4 parade shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, the suspect Robert Crimo could have been prevented from legally purchasing the firearms he used to kill seven people if a "red flag" law were properly followed.

Crimo is from a troubled family. Records showed that police visited the family nearly 20 times between 2009 and 2014 due to conflicts between Crimo's parents. Nine calls were about domestic violence, but no arrest was ever made.

Crimo told the police that he was depressed and had a history of drug use, but he had no intention to kill himself or others. He left his family to live with his uncle after that.

Illinois has red flag laws to deny an unstable and dangerous person from getting a firearms purchasing license. However, when Crimo applied for a license with his father's endorsement three months following the last incident, ISP ultimately dismissed the alert and granted him the license.