FILE PHOTO: Stephanie and Michael Chavez of San Antonio pay their respects at a makeshift memorial outside Robb Elementary School, the site of a mass shooting, in Uvalde, Texas, U.S., May 25, 2022. REUTERS/Nuri Vallbona//File Photo/File Photo

Around six weeks after the massacre at a Texas elementary school, an expert report identified failures by the police. The University of Texas report released Wednesday said a police officer saw the gunman approaching the Uvalde Elementary School. The officer asked his superior for permission to shoot. “The superior either didn’t hear that or reacted too late.” The policeman then turned around to get permission from the superior. When he wanted to turn back to the suspect, the 19-year-old was already at school.

The report also denounced other failings that at least abetted the bloody deed. The outside door through which the perpetrator entered the school was not locked. Another police officer drove his patrol car at high speed through the school parking lot when the suspect was there, but did not spot him. “Had the officer slowed down or parked his car at the edge of the school grounds and approached on foot, he might have seen the suspect.”

The gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at the primary school in May before he was shot dead by police. The police came under massive criticism for their late intervention at the school. More than 75 minutes after the shooter opened fire, emergency services entered the classroom with the gunman and killed him.