Washington DC: The Justice Department has named a team of nine people, including an FBI official and former police chiefs, to aid in a review of the law enforcement response to the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the team during a meeting in his office in Washington on Wednesday. The critical incident review is being led by the Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.
The review will include an examination of police policies, training, and communication, along with the deployment of officers and tactics, the Justice Department said. It will also examine who was in command of the incident and how police prepared for potential active-shooter incidents.
The team gathered for its first meeting Wednesday around a conference table in Garland’s office, with a few of the members appearing virtually on a large television screen. Garland said the review would be comprehensive, transparent, and independent. “We will be assessing what happened that day,” he said.
