Most of the ballistic shields cops brought to the Uvalde school shooting weren’t strong enough to stop bullets from the gunman’s ‘AR-15-style’ rifle

Most of the ballistic shields that police brought in response to the mass shooting at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school weren’t strong enough to stop bullets from the gunman’s “AR-15-style” rifle, an investigation found. According to a report released on Sunday by the Texas House committee investigating the May 24 massacre — which left 19 children and two adults dead — just one of the four shields authorities brought to Robb Elementary School on the day of the shooting provided adequate protection. “Only the last shield, furnished by the US Marshals, was rifle-rated,” the report read.

“The Committee heard evidence that the rifle-rated shield was the only one that would have provided meaningful protection to officers against the attacker’s AR-15 rifle. ” The committee said in the report that it found “no evidence” anyone told the on-scene commander, Uvalde School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, about the rifle-rated shield’s arrival. Eventually, the rifle-rated shield was used by one law enforcement officer to provide cover for another, who opened the door to a classroom where the gunman was located.

The shooter fired at police, who returned fire immediately and killed him, the report said. It’s not immediately clear who provided the three non-rifle-rated shields. Neither the Department of Public Safety nor the US Marshals immediately responded to Insider’s request for comment on why only one of the ballistic shields was rifle-rated.

“Law enforcement on the street just isn’t equipped to carry vests, shield, helmets and more that will protect them from high power rifle rounds,” Katherine Schweit, a retired FBI special agent who formerly led the bureau’s active shooter program, told Insider via email. Alex del Carmen, a police trainer and the associate dean of the school of criminal justice at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, told Insider that rifle-rated shields are heavier, less penetrable, and require more training than a standard ballistic shield or riot shield. He said it’s unclear how many police departments across the US have rifle-rated shields, but added that they’re very expensive — around $4,000 a shield — and the departments that don’t have them most likely lack sufficient funding and inventory to obtain them.

Tactical equipment to respond to mass shootings, del Carmen said, is usually accessed through quick-responding SWAT teams rather than standard patrol units. But regardless of the shield’s rating, it’s the job of police officers to “engage the suspect and kill the suspect,” del Carmen said. “Police officers are trained and they take an oath, which is that they are going to raise towards danger and they are going to go in there — even if they’re outgunned, even if they’re out-manned,” he said.

Sunday’s House report continues to detail the police response to the deadly shooting, including that 376 officers arrived at the school to confront the gunman. In response to the report, Uvalde’s acting police chief was suspended . The new report also comes just days after local outlets the Austin-American Statesman and KVUE obtained and published footage last week showing police officers idling in a hallway as the massacre unfolded.

Last week’s leaked footage sparked immediate outrage from within the Uvalde community and among its elected leaders, who have resisted turning over documents related to the shooting. .