The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, after years of legal contention, finally agreed to release records related to the 2022 mass shooting that killed 19 children and two adults.
While the records did not provide any new information regarding the tragic incident, they showed new insight into the frustration and criticism local officials faced following the shooting. The records show that Uvalde officials faced widespread scrutiny for the delayed response to the shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022.
Uvalde School District Records
It was revealed that none of the 376 law enforcement officers who responded to the scene confronted and killed the gunman until 77 minutes after the shooter entered the school. During that period, many wounded children remained trapped inside a classroom with the assailant.
Because of the lack of outside help, students inside the school were forced to hide near their dead classmates. Additionally, at least one child called 911 to beg for help while dozens of police officers stood and waited in the hallway, according to CNN.
However, there was a slide in an emergency procedures presentation that was included in the release that said, "the actions taken in the initial minutes of an emergency are critical." Officials repeatedly changed their accounts of what happened at the school or who was to blame.
Additionally, grieving families have been demanding answers and records from the school district and local officials. Initially, the district fought to withhold the documents, which included hundreds of pages of exchanges between officials about victims and their families, the academic and disciplinary record of the shooter, and text messages involving former Uvalde school Police Chief Pete Arredondo.
Conversations Between Officials
Some of the messages relating to Arredondo show him talking with others at the district who were sent before the shooting. A message at 9:04 a.m. showed the chief telling officer Adrian Gonzales to "go hang out at the park with the seniors until 11:30," ABC News reported.
Then, a message at 11:40 a.m. that Arredondo received from a district secretary noted that someone reported hearing shots outside of Robb Elementary School. The text read, "They went ahead and locked themselves down."
In one email, a fourth-grade teacher at the school wrote to the district superintendent about how scared she was at the time of the shooting. That was when she was desperately trying to keep her students safe while bullets were ricocheting around her, as per the Texas Tribune.
