One year after Uvalde shooting, investigation of police response continues
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FILE – Law enforcement and other first responders gather outside Robb elementary School after a shooting on May 24, 2022 in Uvalde. Texas is still conducting a criminal investigation into the police's hesitant response to the Robb elementary School shooting, a year after the gunman murdered 19 children and 2 teachers.
Dario Lopez-Mills/AP
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Reggie Daniels pays respects to a memorial in Uvalde Texas, Robb Elementary School on June 9, 2022. Texas is still investigating the police's hesitant response to the Robb elementary School shooting, a year after the gunman murdered 19 children and 2 teachers.
Eric Gay/AP
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FILE – A truck passes crosses honoring the victims of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde Texas on May 3, 2023. The criminal investigation into the police's hesitant response to the Robb elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas continues a year later. A gunman shot 19 children and 2 teachers.
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AUSTIN (Texas) (AP), A criminal investigation into the hesitant response of the police to the Robb elementary school shooting in Texas is still underway as Wednesday marks the one-year anniversary since a gunman shot and killed 19 children, two teachers and a third person in a fourth grade classroom in Uvalde.
The ongoing investigation highlights the long-lasting fallout from Texas' deadliest shooting at a school and how, in the days following the attack, authorities gave inaccurate and contradictory accounts of efforts made to stop the teenage gunman with an AR style rifle.
The investigation coincided with a wave of anger over gun violence in the U.S., new calls for tighter firearm regulations, and legal challenges against the authorities in Uvalde who continue to refuse to release public records about the shooting and police response.
Take a look back at the past year following one of America's most deadly mass shootings.
Police Scrutiny
Texas legislators commissioned a damning report that brought nearly 400 officers from federal, state and municipal agencies to the scene. The report showed how heavily-armed officers waited for more than an hour before confronting and killing the 18-year old gunman. The report also accused the police of failing to 'prioritize saving innocent lives above their own safety'.
All the students who were killed ranged in age from 9 to 11 years.
It is not clear if all five officers investigated after the shooting have been fired or resigned. Col. Steve McCraw of the Texas Department of Public Safety attributed a large part of the blame for the attack to Uvalde's police chief. He was fired later by the school trustees.
McCraw sent more than 90 officers to the school, more than any other agency. He has also refused calls from some Uvalde families as well as lawmakers for him to resign.
Last week, Uvalde County district attorney Christina Mitchell stated that Texas Rangers were still investigating the police response. Her office would ultimately present its findings to a Grand Jury. She did not know when the investigation will be completed.
Calls for Gun Control INTENSIFY
A month after the shooting, President Joe Biden signed into law the most comprehensive gun violence legislation in the country's history. The bill included stricter background checks on gun purchases by children and increased funding for mental health and school aid programs.
The law did not go far enough to restrict the AR-style rifle purchase age as some Uvalde families have requested. Republicans in the GOP-controlled Texas Capitol rejected this year virtually all proposals for tightening gun laws despite protests from families and Democrats.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott also brushed aside calls for stricter gun laws. Just as he had done after mass shootings in a Sutherland Springs Church in 2017 and in an El Paso Walmart, in 2018. Abbott's third term in Texas was not affected by the Uvalde incident.
UVALDE GRIEVES
The Uvalde School District has permanently closed the Robb Campus and is planning a new building. On Wednesday, all schools in Uvalde are closed.
Around a dozen of the students who were in the classroom when the shooting took place survived. Some students returned to school in person last autumn. Some students attended class virtually. One girl, who spent over two months in hospital after being shot multiple time, was one of them.
Veronica Mata is a kindergarten instructor in Uvalde who returned to the classroom this year, after her 10-year-old daughter Tess, was also among those killed.
Uvalde families have sued the gun manufacturer and law enforcement.