UVALDE, Texas — A 610-page Department of Justice report on the Uvalde school shooting response detailed "cascading failures of leadership," and federal officials Thursday said that their concerns were not limited to the 77 minutes it took police to kill the shooter.
In a news conference about the report, Associate U.S. Attorney General Vanita Gupta described the "chaos and confusion" surrounding how victims were -- and were not -- treated in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
"When it became clear there was no leader, there was no plan to triage the 35 victims in Classrooms 111 and 112, many of whom had been shot," Gupta said.
Victims were moved away from the scene "without appropriate precautions," Gupta said, and some victims who had died were taken away in ambulances.
Gupta also said that some children who had suffered bullet wounds were placed on school buses without medical attention.
Additionally, Gupta said that "in the commotion" an adult victim was placed on a walkway on the ground and died there.
Gupta additionally called the reunification process for families "similarly chaotic" and "truly, deeply painful."
Some families were told about their children's autopsies as the first indication their child had died, Gupta said.
In another instance, an official told families who were waiting to be reunited with their loved ones that another bus of survivors would be coming soon. But that bus did not come, Gupta said.
The chaos and ineptitude contributed to the trauma of the whole Uvalde community, the report found.
Reads the report: “The extent of misinformation, misguided and misleading narratives, leaks, and lack of communication about what happened on May 24 is unprecedented and has had an extensive, negative impact on the mental health and recovery of the family members and other victims, as well as the entire community of Uvalde.”