TX state police terminate another Ranger for his Uvalde shooting response

Texas Ranger Christopher R. Kindell is seen in the bodycam still photograph above during the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas on May 24, 2022 during which 19 people were killed by a lone gunman. Of the dead, there was 17 children and 2 adults.

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) decided to fire Kindell due to his response to the mass shooting. [H/T The Texas Tribune]

DPS Director Steve McCraw wrote in a letter Thursday that Kindell's actions following the shooting “did not conform to department standards.” 

“You should have recognized the incident was and remained an active shooter situation which demanded an active shooter response rather than a barricaded subject situation,” McCraw wrote in the letter obtained by the newspaper.

When asked for comment, Kindell only said that he intends to appeal his firing (and he has five days in which to do so).

Kindell’s suspension in September caused ripple effects through the criminal justice system in South and West Texas. Prior to the Uvalde incident, Kindell was lead investigator on 50 high-profile cases, including murders, public corruption, and sexual assaults.

However, law enforcement experts and the Uvalde County district attorney are asking whether DPS is merely covering their collective butts and retroactively punishing a handful of officers for disregarding policies that did not actually exist at the time of the shooting.

Among their concerns: By firing  a few officers, DPS and other law enforcement agencies will avoid serious analysis of how hundreds of police from multiple agencies stood by for more than 70 minutes while children and teachers lay shot in a fourth grade classroom.

In response to a request under the Texas Public Information Act, DPS said it does not have a written active-shooter policy. Instead, the agency said at the time of the Uvalde shooting that DPS relied on guidance from the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center at Texas State University. Known as the ALERRT doctrine, it’s considered the premier active-shooter training program in the state.

Hanging outside the classroom where shots were being fired and victims were crying out were also not in the guidelines.

In July, McCraw sent an agency-wide memo telling DPS officers the agency “will continue to embrace the ALERRT doctrine, but with one important addition.”

“DPS Officers responding to an active shooter at a school will be authorized to overcome any delay to neutralizing an attacker,” McCraw wrote. “When a subject fires a weapon at a school he remains an active shooter until he is neutralized and is not to be treated as a ‘barricaded subject.’ We will provide proper training and guidelines for recognizing and overcoming poor command decisions at an active shooter scene.”

In October, McCraw terminated Juan Maldonado, a DPS sergeant who’d also responded to Robb Elementary on May 24. Maldonado opted to retire rather than appeal his firing.  In fact, the word "firing" apparently scares the crap out of him.

The shooting in Robb Elementary School give credence to the notion that trained personnel, particularly teachers, be allowed to carry or keep a firearm on hand to protect students and themselves, like the Second Amendment calls enumerates.

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