US Justice Department to release long-awaited findings on Uvalde mass shooting Thursday
The U.S. Justice Department plans to release on Thursday its much-anticipated findings on the May 24, 2022, mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two teachers dead.
Uvalde school district Superintendent Ashley Chohlis made the announcement at a school board meeting Monday but offered no details about the coming report.
The district "will have counselors available for students and staff," Chohlis told the school board during her brief announcement.
The local and state law enforcement response to the massacre has been widely criticized because officers were at the scene of the shooting for 77 minutes before finally confronting the shooter.
That criticism swiftly overtook state officials' original narrative of the shooting, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's public remarks that officers had shown "amazing courage" in the moments after the gunfire erupted inside the school.
“It could have been worse," Abbott said at a news conference one day after the mass shooting. "The reason it was not worse is because law enforcement officials did what they do.”
But after reports surfaced that officers' response to the shooting was hindered by delay and indecision, Abbott said he was "livid" about being been misled.
In July 2022, a select committee of the Texas House harshly criticized how the shooting was handled.
"Systemic failures and egregious poor decision making" included school officials who failed to follow established safety plans and responding law officers who failed to follow their training for active-shooter situations and delayed confronting the gunman for more than an hour, the 77-page report concluded.
"They failed to prioritize saving the lives of innocent victims over their own safety," the report said of the officers at the scene.
In the months after the shooting, information emerged through media reports that showed the depth of the police inaction, including a hallway video published in July 2022 by the Austin American-Statesman, part of the USA TODAY Network.
The Texas Department of Public Safety has said it is legally withholding information from public release at the request of the Uvalde County district attorney, citing an ongoing investigation that could result in charges against the officers.
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, whose district includes Uvalde, said he hopes the U.S. Justice Department can shed light on some of the secrecy surrounding the shooting and its aftermath.
"I think that it will be the most honest review that we've seen to date," Gutierrez told the Statesman, adding that he's been dissatisfied with what he calls "inaccuracies and a lot of innuendo" in what has been presented to the public.
"My hope is that this is a more in-depth look at things that went wrong and what was and wasn't done," added Gutierrez, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate. "I certainly would like to see some accountability."