Beto O’Rourke calls for criminal charges against Uvalde police in wake of DOJ report

Former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke expressed disappointment in the Department of Justice’s report on the Uvalde school shooting on Thursday, claiming the report did not go far enough because it did not include criminal charges.

In a social media post, O’Rourke claimed there should be criminal charges against law enforcement officers responsible for the “critical failures” that were outlined in the report.

“The DOJ Uvalde report gets one thing right. The response by law enforcement — who waited over an hour to act — was ‘a failure,’” O’Rourke posted on X. “But it doesn’t go far enough. Without recommending criminal charges, there will be no accountability,” he continued. “Without accountability, there will be no change.”

The report laid out the timeline of the Robb Elementary School shooting, carried out by 18-year-old former student Salvador Ramos, and it noted how law enforcement officers did not kill Ramos until 77 minutes after they arrived on the scene. 

Ramos killed a total of 21 people in May 2022, including 19 children and two teachers. The children were between the ages of nine and 11. 

The DOJ’s report also indicated that law enforcement could have prevented at least some loss of life and injury that day, and it included dozens of recommendations to avoid a tragedy the size of Uvalde again in the future.

The League of United Latin American Citizens also claimed the report did not go far enough because of its lack of criminal charges. The police chief was fired shortly after the shooting.

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“Nineteen children and two teachers died, mostly Latino, and not one person is facing criminal charges yet,” the league’s president, Domingo Garcia, said in a statement. “How can that be when this report affirms much of what we have known for the past 20 months: Law enforcement failed to act quickly and decisively and to do its job of protecting the community.”

He continued, “Instead, we are left with more questions about when or whether even one person will ever face the consequences for criminal negligence or dereliction of their sworn duty.”