Texas senator: ‘Finger pointing’ at authorities after shooting ‘destructive, distracting,

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) argued Saturday that the focus in the aftermath of the shooting at an Uvalde, Texas, elementary school should be on the lessons learned from the incident instead of “finger pointing” at authorities. 

“The second guessing and finger pointing among state and local law enforcement is destructive, distracting, and unfair,” Cornyn posted on Twitter. 

He retweeted a post on Twitter from Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), whose district includes Uvalde, that included a Uvalde Police Department press release pointing to an incident in 2018 when the department identified what the congressman called “credible threats” to a local school and made arrests.

Cornyn said complex situations require “split second decisions” and it is easy for people to criticize actions in hindsight.

His comments come as the local police have faced scrutiny in recent days for their handling of the shooting that left 19 students and two teachers dead. 

The 18-year-old shooter was in the elementary school for over an hour before being shot by federal Border Control agents, after several police officers earlier entered the school and gathered outside the classroom in which the gunman had barricaded himself but did not engage him.

Texas state officials said at a press conference Friday that local police made the wrong decision in waiting to engage the shooter. They said the delay was a result of the onsite commander’s belief that children were no longer in harm’s way. 

“There will be plenty of time to sort this out later,” Cornyn said in his post, adding that the focus should be on the investigation and how to prevent tragedies in the future.