Uvalde CISD police officers didn't follow active shooter training they got in March, expert says

UVALDE, Texas - Officers with the Uvalde CISD Police Department took active shooter training just two months ago, on March 21.

That revelation comes just one day after the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety outlined a series of failures in the response to the school shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead.

READ MORE: Uvalde School Shooting News Coverage

Training material obtained by FOX 4 shows that no matter what, officers must stop the shooter before anything else.

DPD said instead, under the direction of Uvalde CISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo, officers waited outside the classroom where the killing happened for a more experienced team. 

At the training attended by Uvalde CISD officers, according to the state of Texas, police officers are trained to confront the shooter and move in immediately.

A tactic we now know did not happen on Tuesday. 

According to the state’s rapid response training during an active shooter, established in 2005, officers must first stop the threat.

Then, once the threat is eliminated, officers provide medical attention to the victims and evacuate the injured. 

But many questions surround why it took an hour before police officers entered the classroom where the shooter was killing innocent teachers and children.

RELATED: Uvalde school shooting: Police inaction at center of investigation

The same rooms where children were making 911 calls pleading for police and stating classmates had been killed.

An hour after waiting, Border Patrol agents arrived on scene, grabbed a key from a janitor, and barged in to kill the shooter.

Craig Miller, who spent 30 years with Dallas police and who was also the chief of Dallas ISD Police, outlined the top rule during an active shooter, and that’s officers must show acts of courage and put their life in the way to stop the shooter. 

"I understand they thought this was barricaded situation. I can appreciate that, but the fact is we actively had people still inside who were being shot intermittently. The shooting continued for 48 minutes and multiple rounds were fired during that time, and people were calling and giving information that they were alive," he said. "That changes the dynamics of the situation, but we will wait until we know more to confirm exactly what took place in that hallway in an extreme long period of time."

There were reportedly 19 officers stationed in the hallway outside the conjoining classrooms authorities believe the shooter was in, and they didn’t move in. 

But also, in the active shooter handbook, Miller pointed out even if there is only one officer in the presence of an active shooter, he or she must confront the shooter. 

Miller also questioned why the Uvalde ISD chief of police was the incident commander calling the shots, when Miller believes other officers and agencies had more experience.