Two law enforcement officers involved in the botched police response to the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, won their respective Republican primaries on Tuesday.
Sheriff Ruben Nolasco and Uvalde County Constable Emmanuel Zamora, whose names were named in a scathing Department of Justice (DOJ) report on law enforcement failures in the shooting, easily won re-election elections, according to unofficial results. The Texas Tribune reported.
Nolasco won with 39% of the vote, and three other Republican challengers entered the race. Zamora defeated Republican challenger Robert Moss with 64% of the vote, the newspaper said.
The Department of Justice has released its long-awaited report on the devastating May 2022 elementary school shooting. About 400 law enforcement officers waited outside the school for more than an hour during the shooting, which left 19 children and two teachers dead inside. The report found that a lack of preparation, communication and urgency led to police failures.
The report named Nolasco multiple times in criticizing the officers who responded to the shooting. The Texas Tribune said he “did not locate or establish a command post, share information obtained from the parents’ families, or appoint intelligence agents to gather intelligence on the subject.” emphasized.
Mr. Zamora was also named in the report.
A Justice Department investigation found that leaders of responding law enforcement agencies did not question the decision to wait outside the school, and that law enforcement lacked urgency.
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In February, families at Robb Elementary School attended a discussion meeting to seek answers from Nolasco and Zamora, but they never showed up. News4 in San Antionio reported.
Tuesday’s election results show rifts within the community. After the Department of Justice released its report, it cited cases of unnecessary deaths caused by police officers detaining parents who tried to enter schools but did not enter the school themselves. Family members renewed their calls for police to be charged.
No members of law enforcement have faced criminal charges. At least five Texas Department of Public Safety officers have lost their jobs since the shooting, including two officers and a field commander.
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