Let me start this off by saying I’m 100% pro police.
In fact, before I started doing this I wanted to be a Chicago police officer. Unfortunately at the time (around 2009) the line was long and you pretty much had to know somebody to get into the Academy (which is definitely not the case anymore).
I went to law school instead, dropped out after two years, and started a little company called Whiskey Riff with one of my best friends… and the rest is history.
But living in Chicago now for about 15 years, let me tell you that being a cop is unquestionably the hardest gig in town. You’ve undoubtedly heard the news stories about the street of Chicago… the crime, drugs, the murder, the carjackings, the gang activity, I can’t imagine the stress of constantly having a target on your back in some of the roughest neighborhoods in the country.
And recently… it’s gotten much worse, but that’s a conversation for another time.
All of that being said, I, and I think most our readers, support, appreciate, and respect police officers, and understand that they’re an necessary and important part of the community.
However, like any profession… there are good ones and bad ones. Only difference is, when I fuck up my job… people don’t die.
And after today’s surveillance footage release from inside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, people are PISSED at the police there.
The Austin American Stateman first received surveillance footage from inside the school, detailing everything that happened from the moment the shooter, Salvador Ramos, entered the school, the moment police arrived on scene just minutes later, and the moment they killed the shooter… 77 MINUTES LATER.
Meanwhile, 19 students were killed, 2 teachers and more the dozen others were wounded.
Call it gross incompetence, call it a complete lack of training, call it a disgusting display of cowardice, call it whatever you want, I can’t really understand why armed police officers, and then more heavily armed with helmets, rifles, shields, etc… refused to engage with the shooter while he murdered innocent children.
The reasoning given is that school district Police Chief Pete Arredondo treated the incident like a “barricaded subject” and not an “active shooter,” but police were in the building within minutes.
And in addition to the Uvalde Police Department, the Uvalde County sheriff’s department, Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Rangers, U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Marshals Service were all on the scene.
The public criticism of the way the incident was handled has been immense and well-documented, but I don’t think we expected to see this…
Hand sanitizer? Really?
A police officer gets a squirt of hand sanitizer while 19 children and two teachers were murdered at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas pic.twitter.com/WqhXoQySIF
— Max Lewis (@MaxLewisTV) July 12, 2022
Needless to say, the public is LIVID at what is perceived to be an unbelievably casual response to a school shooting:
BRO IS PUTTING ON HAND SANITIZER WHILE CHILDREN ARE MURDERED…… Rage.pic.twitter.com/JDWOfyNASW
— Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) July 12, 2022
Cops in Uvalde checked their phones and got hand sanitizer while children were massacred.
My God. pic.twitter.com/E8K6UJhqs0
— Nina Turner (@ninaturner) July 12, 2022
I can't describe how furious this video made me.
FULL GEAR these cowards had 20 minutes has after gunman was inside, ALSO notice the guy getting hand sanitizer BEFORE gunman is killed.
These f***ers need to all be accountable for this!#Uvalde #UvaldePoliceCowards #UvaldeCoverUp pic.twitter.com/EDTCUAK8Uj— Aaron (@SWars789WereBad) July 12, 2022
19 Children, 2 Teachers.
77 MINUTES!! Checking your phone??? Putting on hand sanitizer????? No words can describe the frustration. All officers must be held accountable.
— Tyrese Haliburton (@TyHaliburton22) July 12, 2022
Seriously, dude is in the hallway putting on hand sanitizer? #Uvalde #UvaldeCoverUp
— Lynn G (@lynngotts) July 12, 2022
That Uvalde video is terrifying. It’s also extremely damning of police there who just continued to mull around even after hearing the gunman shoot multiple times and did NOTHING. One guy even calmly squirts hand sanitizer from the wall into his hands
— 𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐨𝐩𝐞 (@exavierpope) July 12, 2022
No amount of hand sanitizer is going to wash off those hands in Uvalde. None.
— Jack Posobic 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) July 13, 2022
Hand sanitizer.
Based on published reports today, during a period in which 19 children and two teachers were brutally murdered at Robb Elementary School, a police officer failed to act but felt the need to stop and get hand sanitizer.
The "good guys" with guns are COWARDS. pic.twitter.com/ofbkjvgdPt
— Don Winslow (@donwinslow) July 13, 2022
Just saw #Uvalde hallway video. Cops more concerned with their own safety not those kids. Hand sanitizer, and checking phone? I have no kids in that school, I still head towards the the gunman. As a TRAINED law officer, they stood around and held their dick. BTW, I am a Chef.
— Vince Guglietti (@VGuglietti) July 12, 2022
And it goes on and on and on like that….
Obviously, all involved are going to have to answer for this… but it’s hard to watch without feeling your blood boil. Your heart breaks for the parents of those children. As a father myself, I can’t even imagine…
Here’s the full video footage: