{"id":605,"date":"2024-08-14T11:42:41","date_gmt":"2024-08-14T11:42:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hvhappens.com\/?p=605"},"modified":"2024-08-14T11:52:27","modified_gmt":"2024-08-14T11:52:27","slug":"after-uvalde-city-officials-end-battle-over-shooting-records-victims-families-say-other-agencies-need-to-follow-suit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hvhappens.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/14\/after-uvalde-city-officials-end-battle-over-shooting-records-victims-families-say-other-agencies-need-to-follow-suit\/","title":{"rendered":"After Uvalde city officials end battle over shooting records, victims\u2019 families say other agencies need to follow suit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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By Lomi Kriel<\/a> and Lexi Churchill<\/a>, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica, and Zach Despart<\/a>, Terri Langford<\/a> and Kayla Guo<\/a>, The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

“After Uvalde city officials end battle over shooting records, victims\u2019 families say other agencies need to follow suit<\/a>” was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans \u2014 and engages with them \u2014 about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.<\/p>\n

Sign up for The Brief<\/a>, The Texas Tribune\u2019s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n\n

Police video, audio, texts and emails released Saturday by Uvalde city officials offer new details about the Robb Elementary school shooting while also largely reaffirming reporting about law enforcement\u2019s failure to engage a gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers.<\/p>\n

In one report, a Uvalde municipal police officer said that law enforcement had to rely on a parent to use bolt cutters to break the locks to the gated fence the shooter had scaled to enter the school. That same officer also indicated in his report that he overheard a female relative of the shooter discuss how he\u2019d expressed suicidal thoughts the night before the May 24, 2022, massacre. And in a 911 call, the shooter\u2019s uncle pleaded with police to speak to the teenager, saying he believed he could talk him down. The call, however, came six minutes after law enforcement killed the gunman.<\/p>\n

Text exchanges between Uvalde officers also provide insight into their frustrations after Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw blamed local police in the days following the shooting.<\/p>\n

[\u201cSomeone tell me what to do\u201d<\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n

A Texas House of Representatives report released two months later<\/a>, by contrast, spread blame onto the scores of local, state and federal law enforcement officers \u2014 including McCraw\u2019s at least 91 DPS troopers \u2014 who also responded to the scene and failed to take charge.<\/p>\n

The day after McCraw\u2019s public comments, Uvalde Police Lt. Javier Martinez, who was shot within the first few minutes of the response, said that he had received a call from U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican.<\/p>\n

In a text detailing the conversation, Martinez said the senator told him McCraw \u201cshould NOT have done that.\u201d Martinez said he told Cornyn that McCraw had \u201cscrewed us all\u201d and that the local officers were all receiving death threats.<\/p>\n

[\u201cHe has a battle rifle\u201d: Police feared Uvalde gunman\u2019s AR-15<\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n

Cornyn\u2019s spokesperson declined to comment, while McCraw did not immediately respond. An attorney for Martinez and the Uvalde police officers said that he was not aware of the text exchange. Martinez did not respond to a message inquiring about it.<\/p>\n

Most other records released by the city, such as body camera footage and audio of 911 calls from children inside the classrooms, were detailed in previous reporting from The Texas Tribune, ProPublica and FRONTLINE after the news organizations independently obtained hundreds of hours of investigative material through a confidential source.<\/p>\n

The Saturday release is the first major disclosure of documents by a government agency involved in the flawed response to the deadliest school shooting in Texas history. It was part of a settlement agreement in a lawsuit between the city and the news organizations. Three other government agencies \u2014 the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District and the Uvalde County Sheriff\u2019s Office \u2014 continue fighting not to release any records.<\/p>\n

Former Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin, who is now a Republican candidate for the Texas House, said in a phone interview Saturday that the other government entities in the lawsuit should follow the city\u2019s example.<\/p>\n

[A year before Uvalde shooting, gunman had threatened women, carried around a dead cat and been nicknamed \u201cschool shooter\u201d<\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way we\u2019re going to know what truly happened is for everybody to release their records, put them out there,\u201d McLaughlin said. \u201cMistakes were made. There\u2019s no denying that. Take your lumps.\u201d<\/p>\n

By now, law enforcement\u2019s failures during the response to the Uvalde shooting are well documented, including the fact that officers wrongly treated the shooter as a barricaded subject, rather than an active threat, and failed to confront him for 77 minutes. No officer took control of the response, which prevented coordination and communication between agencies. According to records released Saturday, for example, a DPS aircraft official struggled to coordinate logistics for two helicopters, SWAT team members and the San Antonio Police Department because they couldn\u2019t reach an incident commander.<\/p>\n

The newsrooms published 911 calls<\/a> that showed the increasing desperation of children and teachers pleading to be saved and revealed how officers\u2019 fear of the shooter\u2019s AR-15<\/a> prevented them from acting more quickly. In a collaboration with FRONTLINE that included a documentary<\/a>, the newsrooms also showed that while the children in Uvalde were prepared, following what they had learned in their active shooter drills<\/a>, many of the officers who responded were not.<\/p>\n

\n\"The\n
\n The abandoned truck and one of of Salvador Rolando Ramos’ rifles in a ditch near Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, where he entered and killed 19 students and two teachers on May 24, 2022. Credit: Courtesy of Pete Luna\/Uvalde Leader-News<\/cite>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The U.S. Justice Department later published a report<\/a> that heavily criticized the delayed response and said that some victims would have survived had officers followed their training.<\/p>\n

According to the records released Saturday, Uvalde municipal police officer Bobby Ruiz Sr. said in an incident report after the shooting that law enforcement had to rely on a parent to cut a lock on the gates of a fence around the school. Once the gate was open, students and teachers began running toward the opening.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ran up along with two other male individuals in which we hurried the students and school staff behind cover,\u201d the officer said.<\/p>\n

Ruiz was then sent to the nearby house where the gunman lived with his grandparents. The teenager had shot his grandmother in the face and taken his grandfather\u2019s truck to the school. Ruiz said that while at the house, he overheard a relative say they\u2019d stayed up with the gunman the night before after he expressed a desire to die by suicide.<\/p>\n

In one 911 call, the shooter\u2019s uncle, Armando Ramos, urged police to let him speak with the shooter, confident he could persuade him to stop.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything I tell him, he does listen to me,\u201d a distraught Ramos said. \u201cMaybe he could stand down \u2026 or turn himself in.\u201d<\/p>\n

But his nephew was already dead, killed minutes earlier by police after he emerged from a classroom closet and fired at them.<\/p>\n

An attorney for the news agencies as well as the uncle of one of the children killed at Robb Elementary said information about the shooting \u2014 and law enforcement\u2019s response \u2014 helps grieving relatives get closure and will better prepare authorities for future massacres. They pushed other agencies to follow the city\u2019s move and release records.<\/p>\n

Jesse Rizo\u2019s 9-year-old niece Jackie Cazares was one of the fourth graders killed. He was elected to the Uvalde school board in May and has pushed the district to release information the news organizations have requested. He said the piecemeal nature the public releases is spurring residents to suspect government officials are involved in a cover-up.<\/p>\n

\n\"Jesse\n
\n Jesse Rizo, the uncle of Jacklyn Cazares, outside his home in Batesville on Oct. 20, 2022. Credit: Evan L’Roy\/The Texas Tribune<\/cite>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cAnd then we begin to lose faith and trust,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd the longer that things get delayed getting made public, then the more of a lack of trust we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brett Cross, the father of 10-year-old Uziyah Garcia, who was also killed that day, said that he is infuriated that the city released information to media organizations through the settlement without first notifying families. He demanded more documents be released.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need to show everything, the world, how this actually is,\u201d Cross said. \u201cThis isn\u2019t something that we can just turn off. The world gets to turn off the TV and walk away. We don\u2019t get to. We have to live this daily.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two state district judges in Texas have ordered the county, DPS and the school district to release records related to the shooting. All three have appealed the decisions.<\/p>\n

\n\"Left:\n
\n Left: Velma Duran, the sister of Irma Garcia, one of the two teachers killed in the Robb Elementary school shooting, confronts Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw after he finished testifying to the House Homeland Security and Public Safety committee hearing at the Texas Capitol in Austin on Feb. 28, 2023. \u201cThey stood around and enabled the shooter to obliterate my sister. You couldn\u2019t recognize her,\u201d Duran said to McCraw. \u201cLook at me!\u201d Right: Brett Cross speaks during an April 23, 2024 Uvalde City Council meeting addressing police consultant Jesse Prado\u2019s report on the Robb Elementary School shooting. Credit: Evan L’Roy\/The Texas Tribune | Kaylee Greenlee Beal for The Texas Tribune<\/cite>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Only the city has settled with the news organizations, saying in a statement Saturday that it wished to comply with the court order and end a legal battle.<\/p>\n

DPS representatives and a school district spokesperson did not immediately return calls or emails Saturday. Uvalde County Sheriff Ruben Nolasco said in a statement that the potential release of records was \u201cunder the purview\u201d of the office\u2019s attorney.<\/p>\n

Only a handful of responding officers have been publicly disciplined and no trial date has been set for the two who were indicted by a grand jury in June. Those two men \u2014 Pete Arredondo and Adrian Gonzales \u2014 pleaded not guilty<\/a>. An attorney for Gonzales called the charges \u201cunprecedented.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uvalde city officials chose to release records against the longstanding wishes of District Attorney Christina Mitchell, who is preparing to prosecute those two school district officers, including the agency\u2019s former chief, for alleged inaction. Mitchell has argued that releasing records will interfere with those cases.<\/p>\n

Attorneys representing the news organizations have said there is no proof to support her claims and that agencies cannot withhold the records under state laws.<\/p>\n

Laura Prather, a media law chair for Haynes Boone who represented the news agencies in the legal fight for the records, called the city\u2019s release a \u201cstep toward transparency,\u201d though she noted the legal battle continues.<\/p>\n

\u201cTransparency is necessary to help Uvalde heal and allow us all to understand what happened and learn how to prevent future tragedies,\u201d Prather said.<\/p>\n

\n\"Memorial\n
\n Memorial crosses outside Robb Elementary in Uvalde on Jan. 18, 2024. Credit: Chris Stokes for The Texas Tribune<\/cite>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n

The full program is now LIVE for the 2024 Texas Tribune Festival<\/strong><\/a>, happening Sept. 5\u20137 in downtown Austin. Explore the program featuring more than 100 unforgettable conversations on topics covering education, the economy, Texas and national politics, criminal justice, the border, the 2024 elections and so much more. See the full program.<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune<\/a> at https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2024\/08\/10\/uvalde-school-shooting-records-release-lawsuit\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.<\/p>\n