美国国家公共电台 NPR--Far more could have been done to save Uvalde massacre victims, report says

Far more could have been done to save Uvalde massacre¹ victims, report says

Transcript²

A sweeping³ critique on the tactical response to the May tragedy in Texas was released Wednesday.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

A new report shows police officers missed several opportunities to stop the Uvalde school shooter.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Twenty-one people were killed - 19 of them children - as the armed officers at the scene failed to pull the trigger at the shooter until it was too late.

FADEL: NPR's Ashley Lopez is with us to share more of what was in this report. Good morning, Ashley.

ASHLEY LOPEZ, BYLINE⁴: Good morning.

FADEL: So, Ashley, for weeks, community members, parents have been asking - what happened? What took so long to help these teachers and kids? So tell us who commissioned this report and why.

LOPEZ: So this is a review that was commissioned by the Texas Department of Public Safety soon after the shooting, largely in response to all that frustration⁵ that has been aimed at the police response that day. State officials asked the folks who run the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Program at Texas State University to look into what happened from the time police first got to the school to when they finally took the shooter down well over an hour later.

FADEL: And what did it find?

LOPEZ: According to the report, there was an officer with a rifle from the Uvalde Police Department who watched the gunman walk into the school that morning. The officer apparently⁶ asked his supervisor⁷ for permission to shoot the gunman, but the supervisor either did not hear them, or they responded too late. As we know, the shooter was eventually able to slip into the school because of issues mostly with locks on some of the doors in the school. Investigators⁸ say it's estimated that more than 100 rounds were shot in about three minutes in the two classrooms where the shooting took place. And by the time those initial rounds of gunfire ended, there were seven police officers in the school. They had body armor on, and they had rifles and pistols. Investigators also found that, in less than 20 minutes, law enforcement from at least seven different agencies were on the ground as well.

FADEL: Wow. So many resources - somebody spotting him before he even got into the school that was armed and might have been able to intercept⁹ - why did it take so long?

LOPEZ: Right. So investigators say there were multiple mistakes made by police. For one, they say any reasonable police officer would have found reason to engage the shooter as he approached the school with or without a go-ahead from a supervisor.

FADEL: Right.

LOPEZ: Another big mistake, experts say, is that police lost momentum¹⁰ when they got to those classrooms that were under fire. They say, when gunfire started up again, two teams of officers who were near the classrooms actually retreated from the doors when they were being shot at. Experts say, in a situation like this, ideally, officers would have gone in there and then returned fire on the attacker. Investigators say it should have been their first priority to save the lives of any victims or potential victims, even at risk to their own lives. CNN recently aired an interview with Arnie Reyes, who was a teacher in the classroom where all the students died. When asked, he said he felt like law enforcement forgot about them.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ARNIE REYES: (Crying) If they would have gotten in before, some of them probably would have made it.

LOPEZ: Investigators wrote that police early on had all the resources, guns and manpower they needed. They wrote they believed the door to the first classroom was actually unlocked that whole time, but the police never checked.

FADEL: Wow. So what did investigators have to say about what Arnie Reyes said? Did these mistakes actually cost lives that day?

LOPEZ: You know, this is kind of an impossible question to answer definitively¹¹. But investigators wrote that, if some things had happened differently, the shooter could have been taken down earlier, and some victims might have been able to get medical care sooner. According to the report, dispatchers received numerous 911 calls from a child in one of those classrooms. The child said a lot of children and a teacher had died, but they also said there were still a lot of people alive.

FADEL: NPR's Ashley Lopez. Thank you for your reporting.

LOPEZ: Yeah, thank you, Leila.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

6 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

7 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

8 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 intercept   

vt.拦截，截住，截击

参考例句：

• His letter was intercepted by the Secret Service.他的信被特工处截获了。
• Gunmen intercepted him on his way to the airport.持枪歹徒在他去机场的路上截击了他。

10 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

11 definitively   

adv.决定性地，最后地

参考例句：

• None of the three super-states could be definitively conquered even by the other two in combination. 三个超级国家中的任何一国都不可能被任何两国的联盟所绝对打败。 来自英汉文学
• Therefore, nothing can ever be definitively proved with a photograph. 因此，没有什么可以明确了一张照片。 来自互联网