Justice Department announces it will review law enforcement response to the Uvalde school shooting

• The Justice Department announced it will investigate the Uvalde shooting that left 21 Texans dead.
• The investigation is coming at the request of Uvalde's mayor, the DOJ said.

The Justice Department announced on Sunday that it will investigate the Uvalde school shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead.

The announcement comes after several lawmakers and officials have issued calls for an official investigation after local law enforcement changed their timeline of the shooting multiple times.

"The goal of the review is to provide an independent account of law enforcement actions and responses that day, and to identify lessons learned and best practices to help first responders prepare for and respond to active shooter events," DOJ spokesperson Anthony Coley said in a statement.

In at least 12 instances, police have changed the narrative of how law enforcement reacted to the 18-year-old gunman's rampage in which he killed 19 children and two teachers last Tuesday. Local authorities claimed they responded "within minutes" to the shooting.

However, by Wednesday, officials said roughly 40 minutes to an hour passed between the time the shooter entered the premises and when he was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent. Authorities now say the gunman's rampage within the school lasted a total of 78 minutes.

On Friday, Gov. Greg Abbott said he was "misled" by his law enforcement agencies and was "absolutely livid about that."

Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from San Antonio, asked the FBI last week to investigate the police handling of the shooting. On Sunday, Uvalde county commissioner Ronald Garza echoed the call, telling CBS's "Face the Nation" that he would "welcome that investigation."

The DOJ investigation will be conducted through the Office of Community Oriented Policing, Coley said in the statement.

"As with prior Justice Department after-action reviews of mass shootings and other critical incidents, this assessment will be fair, transparent, and independent," Coley said. "The Justice Department will publish a report with its findings at the conclusion of its review."