What To Know Today
A Uvalde police officer had the gunman in his sights before he entered Robb Elementary. The officer then asked permission to shoot but didn’t receive it, according to a new post-mortem from the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center (ALERRT) at Texas State University. The supervisor “either did not hear the request or responded too late” to neutralize the shooter. ALERRT’s executive director and one of the report’s authors said the officer had the authority to make the decision on his own. The report, which is one of several state and federal investigations into the police response, pinpointed other errors in the nearly hour-long period from when the gunman entered the building to when he was killed. “While we do not have definitive information at this point,” the report reads, “it is possible that some of the people who died during this event could have been saved if they had received more rapid medical care.”
Authorities: Highland Park shooter considered second shooting after fleeing. After driving 150 miles from the parade site to Madison, Wisconsin, the suspect considered using a second gun he had in his vehicle to commit another shooting, Lake County police spokesperson Christopher Covelli said. Instead, he returned to Illinois where he was later captured. Meanwhile, a judge denied bail for the suspect during a hearing where prosecutors said he confessed to the attack. The gunman used a Smith & Wesson M&P15 rifle with three 30-round magazines during the attack, and officials recovered 83 bullet casings, prosecutors said. “Our babies see people get shot while they’re at a playground, and there’s no counseling.” That’s what one resident of the South Side of Chicago told The Washington Post about the far different national reaction to the gun violence that plagued Chicago neighborhoods like hers over the July 4th long weekend.
Eduardo Uvaldo was identified as the last person to die from the Highland Park attack. The 69-year-old grandfather, husband, and father of four daughters died early Wednesday morning at a local hospital, surrounded by family. Maria Uvaldo, his wife of 50 years, and their grandson were also noncritically injured in the attack. “His memory and the family unity is keeping them strong,” a family friend said from their home in nearby Waukegan. “He was a kind, loving and funny man,” his granddaughter wrote on a GoFundMe page.
Police in Richmond, Virginia, say they averted a planned July 4th attack. The police chief said at a news conference that a tip led police to monitor two men and then arrest them after obtaining probable cause. Police searched the home of the men, who are alleged to be in the country illegally, and found rifles, a handgun, and hundreds of rounds of ammo. They were charged with being non-U.S. citizens in possession of a firearm, but not with any specific threats related to an alleged attack.
Officer who fatally shot Tamir Rice was sworn in as a small-town Pennsylvania officer. Timothy Loehmann is the sole officer for Tioga, a small town in north central Pennsylvania, the Williamsport Sun Gazette first reported. In 2014, then-Cleveland Police Department officer Loehmann fatally shot the Black 12-year-old who was playing with a toy gun outside a rec center, just seconds after arriving at the scene. Loehmann was later fired, but for not disclosing on his application that he was previously dismissed from another department for being unfit to serve.
Data Point
1,500 — the approximate number of alleged fugitives the Justice Department says have been arrested in a monthlong anti-violent crime crackdown in 10 big cities. The latest federal crackdown on local crime — Operation North Star — is being led by the U.S. Marshals Service. As we’ve reported, federal gun violence crackdowns have a mixed track record. [The Wall Street Journal]
