The Department of Justice last week released a 600-page report detailing what the agency describes as the many failures of multiple law enforcement who responded to the 2022 Uvalde, Texas mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.

The report, produced at the request of then-Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin, follows massive backlash to the emergency response over the 77 minutes that it took for officers to kill the shooter after they arrived on scene.

Since the report’s release, a grand jury has been empaneled in Uvalde County to determine if charges should be made in connection to law enforcement’s response to the shooting, according to local reports. It is expected that the jury will take at least six months to review the evidence, with a decision likely reached around the second anniversary of the shooting, Texas Public Radio reported.

The DOJ report will likely play a major role in the grand jury’s determinations. It includes a minute-by-minute reconstruction of the shooting, analyzes law enforcement preparation and school safety measures and provides details about the response and support services offered in the aftermath. The agency’s office of Community Oriented Policing Services identified several issues by first responders, including “cascading failures of leadership, decision-making, tactics, policy and training,” and a lack of urgency and incident command.

Federal officials said the report aimed to answer remaining questions, honor the victims and survivors and provide guidance going forward.

“We already knew and had seen the failures personally, now the facts are there in black and white,” Javier Cazares said. “But more needs to be done. There’s still no responsibility or accountability from anybody.”

Cazares was having breakfast with his sister-in-law when he got word of the shooting from his wife, who called him just before noon. Their daughter, 9-year-old daughter Jacklyn, was one of the students inside classrooms 111 and 112, which were connected by an interior door.

The report begins with quotes from children calling 911 while in the classroom with the shooter: “Help!” “Help!” “Help!” “I don’t want to die. My teacher is dead!”

By the time of these calls, students and teachers had been trapped inside rooms 111 and 112 with the shooter for more than half an hour while law enforcement was outside in the hallway, according to the report.

One child’s call to 911 lasted about 16 minutes, with four shots heard in the background at 12:21 p.m. “He’s shooting,” the child said. The dispatcher tells the child that they all need to be quiet. The call drops about five minutes later. It took 13 minutes after that call ended for law enforcement to enter the classroom.

“Their actions that day were very cowardly,” Cazares said. “They’re supposed to go in there with whatever resources they had, and they didn’t do that. They retreated.”

The officers’ response was “counter to generally accepted practices” for active shooter situations, which dictate that the first priority must be to take down the attacker, the report stated. These procedures were placed following the 1999 Columbine High School shooting that resulted in the deaths of 15 people, including both gunmen.

The DOJ report noted that rapid emergency deployment puts “significant” responsibility on first responders who may not be trained or equipped for the situation. Nonetheless, they are instructed to push forward with just the tools they have.

“Everything else, including officer safety, is subordinate to that objective,” according to the report.

Emergency response was also impeded by confusion due to poor communication. Several minutes after arriving on scene, UCISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo reported incorrectly that he was inside the school with the shooter. Some radio broadcasts said they were “barricaded” in an office.

Some arriving officers who had received incorrect information or saw a lack of urgency on scene thought the shooter had been killed. A Texas Department of Public Safety (TXDPS) special agent asked if children were inside the classroom with the attacker and an officer responded that they didn’t know. The special agent responds, “If there are kids in there, you go in.”

Confusion and chaos further increased as anxious parents arrived at the school.

It’s something Cazares experienced after driving to the school after his wife’s phone call. He left his truck with the door open and keys still in the ignition when he got to Robb Elementary as he looked for an entrance to the school. There were already hundreds of people crowded outside.

He said he was about 20 yards away from the building that contained his daughter’s classroom when he was held back by police.

“I could see the building was right there,” he said. “If there’s gunfire inside, why aren’t police in there? They had no answer.”

Parents outside the school fence began shouting at officers. One person was heard saying, “Either you go in or I’m going in.” Police over the radio said some parents were armed.

At 12:21 p.m., officers took cover in the hallway as more gunshots erupted inside the classrooms.

An entry team formed consisting of a Zavala County deputy, two Border Patrol agents and a commander, and a TXDPS special agent advanced toward the classrooms but stopped because officers thought they needed keys to unlock the doors.

During this time, Arredondo ordered room 109 evacuated. Officers found a full class inside, including a teacher shot in the abdomen and a child hit in the face with shrapnel.

One medic was heard saying, “The victims have been bleeding for a while so be prepared.” Someone elsewhere said approaching the classroom doors was a “death sentence.”

At about 12:36 p.m., officers found working master keys, but they waited to see if a sniper drone could kill the attacker through the window. It took about 15 minutes for officers to open the door to room 111, where they killed the gunman, who had come out from a closet shooting.

One officer was grazed by gunfire at the head and leg. Forty-five rounds were fired by the shooter while police were at the scene.

In the hours that followed, some families reunited with their children at the hospital or reunification centers. Others had received conflicting information that suggested their child had survived when they did not.

In the days that followed, the Uvalde community mourned.

“There’s never going to be closure for me,” Cazares said. “The way they were taken from us was so brutal that you can never get over something like this.”

Law enforcement, medical, behavioral and government officials also shared in the trauma, the report stated.

“Law enforcement’s trauma is also exacerbated by the backlash from the community–as the community’s trauma is exacerbated by the lack of an adequate response from law enforcement.”

Most law enforcement agencies present that day have not investigated their officers’ actions — something many families of victims are hoping will change.

Kirk Burkhalter, a professor of law at New York Law School and a former NYPD detective, told Texas Public Radio that prosecutors would consider charges of “manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, and abandoning or endangering a child.”

Domingo Garcia, the national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), said members of the organization were in Uvalde after the shooting and raised $2 million to help grieving families – most who were low-income – in the aftermath of the shooting.

Garcia said the tragedy has “activated” the Latino community and united them in their fight for issues like gun control.

“They want to make a difference and not let the loss of their children be in vain, but also they are still trying to heal from the great human tragedy we saw almost two years ago,” Garcia said.

Members of the community like Cazares have joined advocacy organizations like LULAC and have even run for office. Kimberly Mata-Rubio, whose 10-year-old daughter Lexi was killed in the shooting, earned 33 percent of the vote in Uvalde’s mayor election last year. Though she did not win the race, she’s vowed to keep fighting for accountability and change. Cazares has made a similar vow.

“It’s something I promised my daughter,” Cazares said. “When we identified her at the hospital, I told her I was going to do anything in my power to make some change so it wouldn’t happen again.”