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Justice Department to review police response to Texas school shooting

The Justice Department said it will make its findings public.

UVALDE, Texas — The Justice Department says it will review the law enforcement response to the shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 students and two teachers dead.

The review comes amid mounting pressure and questions about the shifting, and at times contradictory, information of what happened in the shooting last Tuesday at Robb Elementary School and how police responded. 

RELATED: Commander made `wrong decision' not to breach classroom sooner because they thought no children at risk, DPS director says

Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley says the review will be conducted in a fair, impartial and independent manner and that the findings would be made public.

Read the full statement from the Justice Department below:

“At the request of Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin, the U.S. Department of Justice will conduct a Critical Incident Review of the law enforcement response to the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24. 

The goal of the review is to provide an independent account of law enforcement actions and responses that day, and to identify lessons learned and best practices to help first responders prepare for and respond to active shooter events. The review will be conducted with the Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing.

As with prior Justice Department after-action reviews of mass shootings and other critical incidents, this assessment will be fair, transparent, and independent. The Justice Department will publish a report with its findings at the conclusion of its review."

Three days after the shooting, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety addressed the media and said responding officers made the 'wrong decision' not to breach the classroom sooner.

The on-site commander initially believed the gunman was barricaded in a classroom during Tuesday's attack and that the children were not at risk, according to Col. Steven McCraw.

Click here for more coverage on the Uvalde school shooting.

Authorities say children repeatedly called 911 from inside Robb Elementary School, including a girl who told the dispatcher “Please send the police now."

Nearly 20 officers were in a hallway outside the classrooms for more than 45 minutes before Border Patrol agents used a master key to open a door and confront the gunman. 

RELATED: 'I was misled' | Gov. Greg Abbott 'livid' after he said he was misinformed on Uvalde mass shooting

Initially, Gov. Greg Abbott had praised law enforcement officers for their courageous efforts and quick response. He later backtracked those comments and said he was "misled" and "livid" about being provided with the wrong information. 

Abbott said moving forward, he expects all law enforcement leaders working on this investigation to get to the bottom of every fact with absolute certainty.

"There are people who deserve answers the most and those are the families whose lives have been destroyed. They need answers that are accurate and it is inexcusable that they may have suffered from inaccurate information...," Abbott said.  

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