DALLAS — Police videos and 911 calls from the 2022 Uvalde, Texas, school massacre that left 19 students and two teachers dead were released by city officials Saturday after a lengthy legal battle.
The release of the documents was in response to a lawsuit filed by The Associated Press and other news organizations after Uvalde officials refused to release documents related to the Robb Elementary School shooting.
The police’s delayed response — nearly 400 officers waited more than 70 minutes before confronting the gunman in a classroom full of dead and wounded children and teachers — has been widely condemned as a colossal failure. The gunman killed 19 students and two teachers on May 24, 2022, in one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history.
Multiple federal and state investigations into the slow response have exposed a cascade of problems in training, communications, leadership and technology, and questioned whether officers put their own lives ahead of those of children and teachers in the South Texas city of about 15,000, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) west of San Antonio. Families of the victims have long sought accountability for the police’s slow response.
Two of the responding officers are now facing criminal charges: former Uvalde School Police Chief Pete Arredondo and former school official Adrian Gonzales have pleaded not guilty to multiple charges of child abandonment and endangerment. A suspended Texas state trooper in Uvalde was was reinstated earlier this month.
Some families have called for more officers should be charged and has filed federal and state lawsuits against law enforcement, social media, online gaming companiesand the gun manufacturer who made the rifle the shooter used.
The police response included nearly 150 U.S. Border Patrol agents and 91 state troopers, as well as school and city police. As dozens of officers stood in the hallway trying to figure out what to do, students in the classroom called 911 on cell phones, pleading for help, and desperate parents gathered outside the building begged officers to enter. A tactical team eventually entered the classroom and killed the gunman.
Previously released video footage from school cameras showed police officers, some armed with assault rifles and bulletproof shields, waiting in the hallway.
A report commissioned by the cityHowever, he defended the actions of local police, saying officers showed “immense strength” and “clear-headedness” when they braved the gunman’s fire and refrained from firing into a dark classroom.