Month: May 2022

Texas Ranger Victor Escalon said no armed guard challenged the teenage attacker and it is unclear if the school door was even locked.

Mr Escalon defended the police response amid mounting criticism of an apparent delay in confronting the gunman.

Witnesses were quoted as saying police were hesitant to confront the killer inside Uvalde’s Robb Elementary School.

The attacker shot dead 19 students and two teachers, and injured at least 17 more people.

The latest details from police sharply contradict what was said at a news briefing two days ago.

Mr Escalon said on Thursday that initial reports the gunman had shot a guard were incorrect, and there was in fact no guard inside the school when the shooter arrived.

Mr Escalon said officers entered the school four minutes after the gunman went in at about 11:40.

But it was an hour before the gunman was killed in a shootout, at 12:45, after US Border Patrol tactical teams arrived.

“They [didn’t] make entry immediately because of the gunfire they were receiving,” Mr Escalon told reporters.

Videos have emerged of police being urged by desperate family members to storm the building immediately.

A father whose daughter died in the attack told the Associated Press news agency he had considered running into the school with bystanders out of frustration at the police response.

One mother told the Wall Street Journal that she was briefly handcuffed, accused of impeding a police investigation, after demanding along with other parents that officers storm the building. Angeli Rose Gomez said she saw one frantic father thrown to the ground by an officer, another father pepper-sprayed and a third who was later tased.

“The police were doing nothing,” said Ms Gomez, who was eventually released before she said she jumped over the school fence and ran inside to rescue her two children. “They [the police] were just standing outside the fence. They weren’t going in there or running anywhere.”

Mr Escalon – a Texas Ranger and spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety – said that during the time officers were outside the school they were calling in reinforcements and “also evacuating students, teachers”.

“An hour later US Border Patrol tactical teams arrive, they make entry and shoot and kill the suspect,” he added.

This deviates from guidance that became standard police practice after the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, which states that the first officers on the scene should do whatever they can, and as fast as they can, to stop an attack, without waiting for backup.

After crashing his truck into a ditch near the school, the gunman emerged and began firing an AR-style rifle at two people who were exiting a funeral home.

The suspect then jumped a fence and began firing “multiple, numerous rounds” at the school building, Mr Escalon said.

As he approached the entrance he “was not confronted by anybody”, the ranger said.

According to Uvalde County Independent School District Officers protocol, campuses are required to have staff “who patrol door entrances, parking lots and perimeters”. Teachers are told to keep doors locked at all times.

“We will find out as much as we can why it was unlocked,” Mr Escalon said. “Or maybe it was locked. But right now, it appears it was unlocked.”

Texas congressman Joaquin Castro has written to the director of the FBI to ask that agents investigate the law enforcement response to the attack as it was unfolding.

Officials say they do not yet know how many bullets the teen fired during the rampage, but one law enforcement source told CBS News the gunman was carrying over 600 rounds of ammunition.

That’s more than double what the average US combat soldier carries, the source said, adding that it appears the gunman was preparing for a massive gun battle with police.

Investigators have found no indication the gunman had a history of mental illness or a criminal record.

He legally purchased two AR-style rifles in the week before the attack, after turning 18.

President Joe Biden and the US first lady will visit Uvalde on Sunday, the White House announced.

Across the country, students staged class walk-outs on Thursday to protest against gun violence in schools.

A father has told the BBC how his two terrified children hid as the massacre unfolded inside Robb Elementary.

“My son ran up to me and said he didn’t think he was going to make it out – that he didn’t think he was going to see me or his mother again,” Jesse Jimenez said. “My daughter was lost, she didn’t know what was going on, she didn’t know if it was a drill or if it was real.”

On Thursday, the husband of one of the two teachers killed in the attack died from a heart attack.

Joe Garcia “passed away due to grief” two days after his wife of 24 years, Irma Garcia, family members said.

Police stopped Genivaldo de Jesus Santos, 38, in the street in the north-eastern city of Umbaúba, Sergipe state, on Wednesday.

Video footage showed two officers holding down the boot the man was in as thick smoke billowed from the car.

An autopsy report on Thursday confirmed Mr Santos died of asphyxiation.

Brazil’s federal highway police said a disciplinary proceeding has been opened to investigate the officers’ conduct. An investigation has also been opened by the federal police into the circumstances of Mr Santos’ death.

There are conflicting reports of the incident.

A police statement said that Mr Santos had been arrested because he had “actively resisted” the police’s approach, and that because of his “aggressiveness… immobilization techniques and instruments of less offensive potential” were used to restrain him.

But Mr Santos’ nephew, Wallison de Jesus, told local media he had been at the scene, and his uncle had been riding a motorcycle when federal highway police officers stopped him and asked him to lift his shirt.

He said his uncle took prescription medication for schizophrenia, and got nervous when the officers found the medication.

He claimed that he had warned the police about his uncle’s condition, and “then the torture began”. He said the officers pinned him to the ground and bundled him into the vehicle’s boot.

The video footage, widely circulated online, shows Mr Santos’ legs dangling from the car, with the rest of his body inside. As he kicks and screams, two officers are seen pushing down on the boot door, while a gas grenade appears to be released inside.

“They’re going to kill the guy,” a bystander can be heard saying as Santos’s legs stop moving.

His nephew said the officers left for the police station, and took him to the hospital when they realised he was unconscious. A police statement said Mr Santos was pronounced dead at the hospital.

An autopsy by the state forensic medical institute said he had died of asphyxia but that it could not determine what had caused it.

But Mr Santos’ widow, Maria Fabiana dos Santos, described the incident as “a crime” and told local newspaper G1 that her husband had never been violent.

The incident has led to widespread condemnation across Brazil, with many criticising the police’s alleged actions as an act of racism. The incident happened on the two-year anniversary of the killing of George Floyd, a black man, by police in the United States.

Renata Souza, a black activist and politician, tweeted: “Another black body executed by the hands of the State. It is unacceptable.”

A protest was also staged before Mr Santos’ funeral in Umbaúba on Thursday, G1 reports, where tyres were set on fire on the road where he was killed.

Police violence is not uncommon in Brazil.

Earlier this week, more than 20 people died in a police raid in a Rio de Janeiro slum. Police have since faced accusations of using excessive force against the deceased, which one human rights lawyer claimed amounted to torture.

The MoD said six Irish Guards troops and a Coldstream Guardsman veteran were arrested by the Royal Military Police as part of a “planned operation”.

The 1st Battalion Irish Guards are set to lead Thursday’s Trooping the Colour for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

The MoD said none of the soldiers under investigation would take part.

Founded in 1900 by Queen Victoria, the Irish Guards have been deployed as part of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The regiment – which counts the Duke of Cambridge as its royal colonel – also guards royal palaces, where they can be seen wearing the distinctive red tunic and bearskin hat.

Last week, Prince William presented the Irish Guards with new colours – a flag that acts as a rallying point for troops – ready for them to lead the parade on the Queen’s birthday as the Platinum Jubilee weekend begins.

In a statement, the MoD said: “As part of a planned operation, the Royal Military Police arrested six Irish Guards soldiers and a Coldstream Guardsman veteran from across the UK on suspicion of conspiracy to supply drugs and money lending and laundering offences.

“None of the soldiers under investigation will participate in planned Queen’s Platinum Jubilee parades.

“The Army does not tolerate any type of illegal or fraudulent behaviour. As this is now the subject of an independent Royal Military Police investigation, it is inappropriate to comment further.”

The IFS said calls for help were likely to continue for “at least” another year if oil and gas prices do not fall.

It comes after Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced on Thursday that every UK household would get an energy bill discount of £400 this October.

The government has insisted the support announced by Mr Sunak was “temporary”.

But analysts have forecast that energy bills will be even higher in spring 2023 than predicted for October.

As part of the £15bn package of support outlined by the chancellor, the poorest households will also get a payment of £650 to help with the cost of living and pensioners and disabled people will receive more targeted support.

The intervention came after the government had come under growing pressure to help people with the soaring cost of living.

The energy regulator Ofgem has warned that millions could be left struggling if energy prices rise by a further £800 in October – to £2,800 a year for a typical home – as expected.

Households have already been hit by a £700 rise in April.

Mr Sunak’s announcement came a day after Sue Gray’s critical report into lockdown parties in Downing Street.

Although the support was broadly welcomed and described as a “genuinely big package” by the IFS, a think tank, its deputy director Carl Emmerson said: “If oil and gas prices remain high then the government will doubtless come under pressure to continue the additional household support for at least a further year.”

The boss of the UK’s energy regulator had warned that if the government had not announced further support for October, then up to 12 million people could have been placed into fuel poverty.

It is not yet known how many homes will be saved from falling into the bracket – defined as spending 10% or more of disposable income on energy – under the new measures.

Adam Scorer, chief executive of fuel poverty charity National Energy Action, said the chancellor’s measures averted “the darkest of outcomes” but warned “millions will still be struggling and the energy crisis is far from over”.

He said a “large, more targeted intervention is what was needed ahead of winter”, and said the government needed to plan for energy prices to remain high for some time.

The cost of living is set to continue to rise, with inflation – the rate at which prices go up – at a 40-year high and forecast to top 10% later this year.

Food, fuel and other prices for goods began to rise as global economies have reopened from Covid restrictions but have surged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine due to concerns over potential shortages and supply disruption.

Mr Sunak has insisted that his new measures to ease the cost of living will have a “minimal impact” on inflation.

He told the BBC the government had “designed something that will continue to incentivise and encourage investment”.

Meanwhile, analysis firm Cornwall Insight, has predicted the energy price cap, which limits how much providers can raise prices, will be marginally higher in Spring 2023 (£2,818) than the price cap this Autumn (£2791).

Mr Sunak announced the cost of support for energy bills will be partly offset by 25% windfall tax on oil and gas firms’ profits, which have soared in recent months, largely due to the war in Ukraine.

For example, Shell recently reported a record £7bn profit in the first three months of this year while BP made £5bn, the highest for 10 years.

A windfall tax is a one-off levy imposed by a government on a company. The idea is to target firms that were lucky enough to benefit from something they were not responsible for – in other words, a windfall.

Mr Sunak has avoided calling his measure a windfall tax, instead referring to it as a “temporary, targeted energy profits levy”.

Dan Atzori, research partner at Cornwall Insight, said introducing a windfall tax was “not an enduring solution to the endemic problem of fuel poverty in this country”.

He warned that although a tax on profits may provide an “immediate solution” to help people, it “comes with inherent risks to both investment and energy security”.

He said a “key competitive advantage” for the UK globally was that it is seen as “an investment-friendly jurisdiction” and if windfall taxes were repeated over time, it risks “creating an unstable environment, and may lead to energy producers, who operate globally, investing and relocating to other areas”.

“Not only would this hamper the UK’s income, but it may deter investment in renewables, slowing our move towards net zero and risking the UK’s energy security in the longer-term,” he added.

The government had rejected the idea of a windfall tax on energy firms’ profit – a policy repeatedly called for by Labour – over fears it could deter investment in the UK.

But Mr Sunak said with the sector “making extraordinary profits” he was “sympathetic to the argument to tax those profits fairly”.

However, energy giant BP said while it knew “how difficult things are for people” Thursday’s announcement was “not for a one-off tax” but a “multi-year proposal”.

“Naturally we will now need to look at the impact of both the new levy and the tax relief on our North Sea investment plans,” a statement said.

The body which represents oil and gas firms, Offshore Energies UK, said the levy would “drive away” investors and cut UK energy production.

The new measures add to around £17bn of support already given by the government. This included one-off £150 council tax rebates for most homes in England and Wales and matched funding for the other devolved nations.