I'm going to state my position on this very clearly as some have either misunderstood it or made false assumptions:
1. I do not know if the police action was correct or not.
2. I am not 'excusing' or 'defending' their actions but neither am I condemning it.
3. I think judging whether their actions were appropriate or not should wait until the investigation concludes exactly what happened and why.
4. I do object to some members projecting their personal dislike of police onto these officers and judging them before knowing all the facts. Anyone claiming they have not made that personal dislike...even hatred for some... clear is not being honest.
Okay, that's fair.
I will say that the story that is coming together as police give more information and correct or retract previously-given information, is at the very least becoming less flattering over time, but yes we have to acknowledge that the information even now is still incomplete. Some conflicting statements still remain to be resolved.
And given how drastically the story has changed just in the last couple of days, it's entirely possible that it could drastically change again in the future, maybe even in a way that settles or absolves the responders.
The Texas DPS is the agency that, it appears so far, has been given the job of being the primary public information clearinghouse. Their statements are the ones that have changed drastically. But it's important to recognize that DPS officers were not the ones on-scene initially, and they have no actual direct knowledge what happened at the beginning of the incident. All of their information, good and bad, about that part of the timeline comes from the Uvalde Police Department, and possibly the city school district (it's not clear to me whether the "school resource officer" involved is district-employed, or Uvalde PD, or a separate agency entirely; it could be any of these as arrangements regarding SROs aren't standardized nationwide). In fact it's not clear what part the DPS played at all in the incident, if any; the only other agency we know for sure was actively involved was USCBP, whose "tactical team" was eventually called to enter the room and take down the shooter.
And there is still a lot of misinformation that's been reported and is being kept in circulation by people who are unaware that it was found to be bogus or just don't care.
1. The shooter is not known to have been transgender. Family, friends, and others who knew him don't mention anything like this, and all refer to him as male. Photos circulated online supporting a "trans" claim were taken from an uninvolved person's social media posts. This misinformation continues to be pushed even now by many, even prominent pundits like Candace Owens (yes, really).
2. The shooter is not an illegal immigrant. He did not just recently move to the area. He had an established job in town at a fast-food restaurant.
3. The shooter was not fleeing police or being pursued by authorities at all when he crashed his truck in the drainage canal.
4. A Border Patrol agent did not happen to be somewhere nearby and respond immediately, rushing into the building without backup and taking down the shooter singlehandedly.
