AUSTIN, Texas — The new report on the Robb Elementary Shooting in Uvalde showed multiple instances where police response was flawed.
One former Navy SEAL said after watching the video, he agrees there was a lack of communication and training.
“When you see the police officers sitting in the hallway, I mean, we have an overwhelming amount of firepower on the good guys' side,” said Geoff Reeves, a former Navy SEAL who served for eight years and still hosts different tactical trainings. “We had all kinds of ballistic helmets, ballistic vests. We had largely a ballistic shield. It's frustrating.”
He says as a Navy SEAL they have various trainings in different situations.
”We get extensive training on weapons tactics in all kinds of terrains, such as woodland, arctic, deserts, inside of structures, houses, buildings,” said Reeves.
Reeves said he does not blame the officers who were on scene that day; he blames a lack of training and communication.
“Somebody higher up wasn't making the calls and that's where the breakdown is,” he said.
Reeves believes some of the tactical training military members go through could benefit local law enforcement departments in how to respond to situations like a school shooting.
“Who has the best training in order to deal with stuff like this? People in the military, naval special warfare, special forces and Marine infantry units who used to do this day in and day out.”
Reeves did say some people see this as the militarization of police, but he said this would just give them more training tools that could be used in these situations.
“What we have seen in Uvalde, the tactics were either not properly implemented, unfortunately, or they just didn't have the knowledge to implement it,” said Reeves.
Reeves said it is important to get to the shooter as quickly as possible, in a tactical way.
“In a situation like this, you know where at least one known shooter is, because that is where all your sensory, your hearing, your visual is coming from – you're being shown to something,” said Reeves. “Now, it doesn't mean that you completely ignore everything else around you. And we obviously, we now know that there were plenty of police officers that could have taken up different positions.”
He has actually worked with some law enforcement departments but said that is up to each local entity.
“I contract with a company that we actually do train some local SWAT teams,” said Reeves. “I've done that on the East Coast. I've done that down south.”
Reeves said he was not there that day and does not know everything officers were dealing with, but he says the goal should always be to stop the threat quickly.
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