A “chaotic medical response” delayed treatment for the victims of the May shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvlade, Texas, according to previously unreleased records.
The records, obtained by The Washington Post, the Texas Tribune and ProPublica, revealed how a lapse in communications “muddled lines of authority among medical responders” and “further hampered treatment” for the victims, as the report explained.
According to the report, three victims who came out of the school with a pulse later lost their lives.
“In the case of two of those victims, critical resources were not available when medics expected they would be, delaying hospital treatment” for [Eva Mireles], 44, and student Xavier Lopez, 10,” the records state.
The report explains student Jacklyn “Jackie” Cazares, 9, “Likely survived for more than an hour after being shot and was promptly placed in an ambulance after medics finally gained access to her classroom. She died in transport.”
Medics were reportedly frustrated by the “disjointed medical response” as efforts to get ambulances, air transport and other emergency services were delayed.
A fire department official that has been unidentified told medical helicopters with “critical supplies of blood” that tried to land at the elementary school had to wait at an airport miles away, per the report.
Dozens of police vehicles that were parked also blocked paths ambulances were trying to take to get to the victims.
When the shooter was killed, several “cameras worn by officers and one on the dashboard of a police car” showed two ambulances stationed outside of the building.
However, as the report shows, “That was not nearly enough for the 10 or more gunshot victims then still alive, though additional ambulances began arriving 10 minutes later. Six students, including one who was seriously wounded, were taken to a hospital in a school bus with no trained medics on board,” citing Texas EMS records.
No helicopters were used to transport the victims directly from the school.
At least four survivors were taken by helicopter to a San Antonio trauma center after initially being transported by ambulance to a hospital or airport close by.
“These scenes are inherently confusing, challenging, and chaotic,” Eric Epley, executive director of the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council, said in an email.
He added, “We remain steadfast that the decisions by the on-scene medical leadership were sound and appropriate.”
The Post, Tribune and ProPublica noted the Texas Rangers, an extension of the state Department of Public Safety, are investigating what went wrong with the response in Uvalde and whether any victims could have survived if they received the medical care they needed promptly.
Julie Lewis, the regional manager for AirLIFE, told the Texas rangers, “They couldn’t figure out who was in command.”
Two teachers and 19 students were shot and killed during the shooting.
