On May 24, 2022, an 18-year-old gunman entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and opened fire on a classroom killing 19 children and 2 teachers. The event was a tragedy for Texas and America and was considered the second deadliest elementary school shooting since Sandy Hook. The parents of the slain children have been rallying at the Texas Capital this past legislative session, arguing for gun reform to raise the age to 21. Across the country, the Uvalde shooting has been highlighted to argue for reforms in gun control. 

But another vital part of the story that took precedence was the botched police response to the shooting. The national active shooter response is to stop the shooter immediately.

A report by Texas lawmakers highlighted that the Uvalde police department prioritized its own safety over saving the lives of the children inside the classroom where the gunman was located. The report also acknowledged that officers were probably misinformed about what was happening at the scene. FOX News reports that “The report concluded that while 376 law enforcement officers responded to the shooting, there was not an adequate leadership presence at the scene.”

Overall, there was a lack of communication between the personnel on the scene, a lack of leadership, and failures with the school’s security infrastructure, which allowed a gunman to enter the building and stay holed up in a classroom for over an hour. 

While all of these personnel were standing around with vests, rifles, and shields, the gunman was left in the classroom for over 70 minutes. The police were more armed, and prepared, and the shooting was already heard from outside. Parents had been fighting the police in trying to break into the school. Police arrested and detained parents trying to get in. Police were getting children out of the school. But the one classroom where the gunman was held up, was not breached for 77 minutes. 

That left people wondering why the police response was stagnant and unorganized. Afterward, conflicting reports came about as to what the answer was.

DPS has been hesitant to release those documents, and our state lawmakers who have gotten to see the full situation had to sign nondisclosure agreements.

A coalition of news sources, including the Texas Tribune and New York Times, sued Texas DPS under the Texas Public Information Act to release their response documents to the Uvalde shooting. Last week a District Court Judge in Austin ordered the DPS to release their documents and have them prepared to be reviewed by the court at the end of August. CNN reports that the Department of Public Safety must release dashcam and police cam footage, the training that DPS received, records of 911 calls, and more.

DPS can redact the documents, but the court must approve those redactions. This is seen as a win by both journalists and the public who are wanting to understand further why the police took so long to respond as it did. They were conflicting reports about the shooter and about the response to what happened. So these documents should give the public closure on the police response to the Uvalde shooting.