The video, which was published by the Austin American-Statesman on Tuesday, shows responding officers approaching the classroom door within minutes of the gunman entering, only to retreat after the gunman opened fire on them. After more than an hour — with the hallway increasingly crowded with officers from various agencies — the classroom door was breached by law enforcement and the gunman was shot and killed. Local authorities and victims’ families condemned the decision to release the footage before those affected could see it for themselves. And the video, which was lightly edited by the US statesman to blur the identity of at least one child and remove the sound of children’s screams, still leaves unanswered questions — specifically why the law enforcement response was so slow.
“They just didn’t act. They just haven’t moved,” Uvalde County Commissioner Ronald Garza said on CNN’s “New Day” on Wednesday. “I just don’t know what was going through the minds of those officers on that tragic day, but … there was just no action on their part.”
The video also doesn’t answer the question of “who, if anyone, was driving,” state Sen. Roland Gutierrez (D) told CNN on Tuesday.
“Even if we see 77 minutes in the hallway, that’s not going to tell us who was in charge or who should have been in charge. And I think that’s the sad statement about what happened on May 24 is that nobody was in charge. “
Gutierrez criticized the Texas Department of Public Safety for having multiple officers on the ground but not taking control of the situation. The state agency has consistently named Pedro “Pete” Arredondo, the Uvalde school police chief, as the commander on the scene at the time of the attack. Arredondo was placed on leave as school police chief in June and has not made any significant public statements about the decision that day despite intense public scrutiny, although he told the Texas Tribune he does not consider himself a stage leader. On Tuesday, the Uvalde City Council accepted his resignation from his position as a councillor. The families of the victims said they were disturbed by the leaked footage, saying it was just the latest in a long line of examples of their wishes being pushed aside. Officials say they planned to show the footage to families this weekend before releasing it publicly.
“There’s no reason families should see this,” Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin said of the leak. “I mean, they would have seen the video, but they didn’t have to see the shooter come in and hear the shots. They don’t need to go through it again, they’ve been through enough,” he said.
Officials strongly criticized the early release of the video
The decision by the Austin American-Statesman — along with television partner KVUE — to release the footage was heavily criticized by local officials, who echoed parents’ concerns, saying some graphic audio and images should not have been included.
“While I’m glad that a small portion is now available to the public, I believe that looking at the entire segment of the law enforcement response, or lack thereof, is also important,” said House Investigative Committee Chairman Dustin. Burroughs (R) tweeted.
“I am also disappointed that the requests of the victims’ families and the Uvalde community to view the video first and not have certain images and audio of the violence not be met,” he wrote.
In the first edited video, which is just over four minutes long, audio captures distraught teachers screaming as the gunman crosses the parking lot after crashing his truck just outside the Robb Elementary campus.
He then entered the school at 11:33 a.m., turned down the hall carrying a semi-automatic rifle, entered the classroom and opened fire. When the gunshot rang out, a student who had been peeking around the corner of the hallway at the shooter quickly turned and ran.
Minutes later, officers rush into the hallway and approach the door, but immediately retreat to the end of the hallway when the gunman appears to open fire on them at 11:37 a.m. Law enforcement continues to arrive in the crowded hallway , but don’t approach the door again until 12:21 PM and wait until 12:50 PM to break into the classroom and kill the shooter.
A second edited video lasting almost an hour and a half was also posted on the newspaper’s YouTube channel.
In the footage, the sound of children’s screams has been edited out, but the loud sounds of gunfire can still be heard clearly, and the gunman’s face is shown briefly as he walks through the school’s doors.
“It is unbelievable that this video was published as part of a news story with images and audio of the violence of this incident without consideration for the families involved,” McLaughlin said in a statement. The American-Statesman defended its decision, with executive editor Manny Garcia writing in an editorial: “We need to bear witness to history, and transparency and relentless reporting is the way to make a difference.”
McLaughlin also shared his disappointment that someone close to the investigation would leak the video.
“This was the most insidious way to get this video out today – whether it was released by the DPS or whoever. It was very unprofessional in my opinion, what this investigation has been, I think, from day one,” he said during a hearing at the city council on Tuesday.
What will happen next
Despite the leak of the surveillance footage, the Texas House Investigative Committee still plans to meet with the victims’ families on Sunday and provide them with a fact-finding report as originally planned, a source close to the committee told CNN .
The report will show that there was not a single outage on May 24, but instead a large-scale group outage, the source said. Committee members also asked Texas DPS Director Col. Steve McCraw to testify a second time Monday to get further clarification on earlier testimony given under oath to the Texas House and Senate, according to the source.
Meanwhile, some outraged family members have taken to social media to urge people not to share the video while families come to terms with the footage and the law enforcement behavior it reveals. “PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT SHARE THE VIDEO!! We need time to process this!!” posted Berlinda Arreola, grandmother of Amery Jo Garza, 10, who was killed in the massacre. Gloria Cazares, whose daughter Jaclyn was killed, also asked her family and friends on Facebook not to share the video, saying it was “the opposite of what the families wanted!”
“If you’re a real friend please don’t share it, I don’t want to see it on my feed nor do I want to be tagged on any of the news stations that share it. Our hearts are broken again! ,” Cazares wrote.
The Uvalde School District has scheduled a meeting for July 18, where McLaughlin said he hopes the City Council and the families of the victims can get details on returning to school.
The school district previously announced that students at Robb Elementary School would not return to campus and would be reassigned to other schools.
Steve Almasy, Andy Rose, Elizabeth Joseph, Taylor Romine, Shimon Prokupets, Eric Levenson, Cheri Mossberg, Christina McSouris, Mary Kay Maloney, Vanessa Price and Dave Alsup contributed to this report from CNN.
Add Comment