UVALDE, Texas — Dozens of additional dash cam and body cam videos from officers responding to the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting were released Tuesday, largely affirming previous reports and investigations that detailed law enforcement’s failure to confront the gunman.
The new materials include at least 10 police body camera videos and nearly 40 dashboard videos, ProPublica reports. In one 30-minute video, officers can be seen setting up medical supplies to triage victims. However, the scene becomes more chaotic once officers breach the classroom and realize the extent of the attack. The video blurs out victims as they are carried out of the classroom and officers can be heard coughing, crying, and stepping away to take deep breaths. The video also shows an officer on a sidewalk doing chest compressions on a victim.
In another video, an officer wearing a body camera is crying, telling someone on the phone, “They’re just kids. It’s ***** up. I just never thought **** like that would happen here.” Other footage shows desperate parents who had gathered outside the building pleading with officers to go in.
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In one clip, an officer walks up to Ruben Ruiz, who was a Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (UCISD) officer, and hugs him. Ruiz’s wife, Eva Mireles, was among the two teachers and 19 students killed.
“She’s a fighter bro. You know that. You know that. She’s strong. God is with her,” the officer tells Ruiz. “I love you. She’s got this.”
Mireles called her husband from the classroom during the attack, NY Post previously reported. Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw testified Ruiz tried to get to the classroom to rescue his wife but that he had his gun taken away and was “escorted” off the scene.
Officer Questions Decision Not to Breach Robb Elementary Classrooms
Much of the videos show dozens of officers lined up in a school hallway as they waited more than an hour after the shooter first entered the building to breach the adjoining classrooms. Officers can be heard questioning why no one had gone in yet.
“How many shots have gone off since he was cornered in? And nobody went in? Pete did? And then? Where’s Pete?” one officer asked, seemingly asking about UCISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo.
Another officer responds, “I’m not SWAT and I’m not charging this, bro.” According to the school district’s active shooter plan, Arredondo was supposed to take charge.
There also seemed to be confusion about where evacuated students were to be taken. In the same video, a dispatcher on the radio is heard asking where first responders were sending them.
“Mother******!” an officer yelled outside the school. “They still haven’t established where the kids need to go?”
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New Videos Released After Officer Informs Uvalde Police Chief of Missing Footage
More than two years ago, media organizations, including ProPublica, The Texas Tribune, and FRONTLINE, sued several local and state agencies to release records related to the shooting. The City of Uvalde ultimately settled with the news organizations and released what they said were all of the records on Aug. 10. However, two days later, an officer told Uvalde Police Chief Homer Delgado that some of his body camera footage was not included in the release, according to NEWS4SA.
The City of Uvalde released a statement Tuesday, attributing the withholding of footage to a UPD officer.
“Immediately after being made aware of additional UPD footage from May 24th, 2022 that had not been released, UPD Chief Homer Delgado ordered an internal investigation to determine the cause of the oversight. The internal investigation revealed that, in addition to technological issues, there was an unintentional lack of proper due diligence by the officer who served as custodian of UPD records,” the statement says. “The officer faced disciplinary action as a result of the internal investigation and subsequently retired from UPD. The investigation found no evidence of any intentional effort to withhold information. UPD is working diligently to correct its own internal record keeping policies and procedures, as well as any outstanding technological issues, to ensure that such an oversight does not occur again.”
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The Uvalde Leader-News reported last month that former city police Sergeant Donald Page faced disciplinary action related to the withheld footage and subsequently resigned. Page oversaw operations including dispatch and evidence technicians.
Three other government agencies — the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District and the Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office — are still fighting against any release of their records, The Texas Tribune reports. Former Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin on Tuesday praised Uvalde police for releasing the material and called on other law enforcement agencies to do the same.
“It should have been done from day one,” he said. “I was frustrated when I found out we had something we had overlooked, but everybody needs to release their stuff. It’s the only way these families are going to get some closure.”
Robb Elementary Gets New Name
Also on Tuesday, during a UCISD board meeting, it was announced that the school that will replace Robb Elementary will be named Legacy Elementary, Spectrum Local News reports. Board members unanimously approved the recommendation that was presented by a naming committee, which is made up of victims’ family members, UCISD faculty, and various community members nominated by the board. The group met over the course of 11 months to choose a name.
Olivia Guerrero-Rish, chair of the committee, said during the meeting that the name Legacy Elementary stood out among the two other final contenders after it received a total of 21 votes — the number of lives lost in the shooting.
“We sat in awe that the vote was 21. And the symbolism led the committee to unanimously vote on that said name for the new elementary school,” she said. “A legacy is something we leave behind. A lasting impact and the way the 21 [victims] will be remembered for generations to come. Those that we loved and lost will forever be remembered.”
