UVALDE, Texas – Read in English here
City officials in Uvalde released a large amount of public records related to the 2022 massacre at Robb Elementary School on Saturday.
The release of body camera footage, dashboard camera footage, emergency radio transmissions, 911 calls, and written records comes days after a district court judge ordered their disclosure.
Uvalde County and the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District were also named in the lawsuit filed in 2022 by news organizations, including KSAT TV, seeking records of the police response to the school shooting, the deadliest in Texas history.
Nineteen students and two teachers died after an armed man entered the classrooms with an AR-style rifle.
The May 2022 shooting was also the deadliest at an elementary school in the United States since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.
County and school district officials filed notices this summer to appeal the judge’s ruling.
City officials in Uvalde had up to 20 days to make necessary redactions and publish the records, which were released at noon on Saturday, weeks ahead of the court-ordered deadline.
A separate lawsuit filed in 2022 by a group of news organizations, including KSAT TV, against the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is still pending.
A Travis County District Court judge last year ordered DPS to release records of their response to the school, but DPS officials quickly appealed the ruling.
Saturday’s Release Includes Hundreds of Radio Transmissions
The information disclosure included body camera footage of five Uvalde Police Department officers, dashboard camera recordings, audio from about 20 911 calls, and hundreds of radio transmissions and non-emergency calls made that day in relation to the police response.
The release also included dozens of documents and text messages.
The materials have been redacted in accordance with the rules set by the Texas Public Information Act.
A Texas House investigative report published in July 2022 revealed that 25 Uvalde Police Department officers were among the hundreds of law enforcement officials who descended on the elementary school during the shooting response.
New Body Camera Images Show Officers Entering Classrooms
The body camera footage released by the City of Uvalde on Saturday provided the first glimpse of authorities entering the classrooms at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022.
The Uvalde Police Department footage did not reveal new revelations about the massacre but visually confirmed that officers were waiting in the halls while the dispatch center received 911 calls about an armed man in the school.
The records included 12 body camera videos from five Uvalde Police Department officers at the scene.
The footage from Uvalde Police Department Sergeant Daniel Coronado’s camera constitutes the bulk of the footage released, about two hours, capturing the moment officers burst into the classroom around 12:50 p.m. The assailant had entered the school around 11:33 a.m. and barricaded himself in rooms 111 and 112.
“There’s a helicopter watching up there. Oh my God, please,” an officer is heard in Coronado’s footage just before the officers enter the classroom and kill the assailant.
“They’re going in,” an officer said as the scene became chaotic. Loud gunshots and screams are heard in the video.
“Children!” “EMT!” and “Bring me the children!” can be heard shouted by different officers.
“Where is the suspect?” an officer asks. “He’s dead,” another responds.
Watch Coronado’s footage below:
Uvalde Attacker’s Uncle Called 911 During Massacre
Just before arriving at the school, the 18-year-old attacker shot and injured his grandmother at her home. He then took a truck from the house and drove to the school.
The distraught uncle of Ramos made several 911 calls begging to be connected in an attempt to persuade his nephew to stop shooting.
“Maybe he’ll listen to me because he listens to me, everything I tell him, he listens,” the man, who identified himself as Armando Ramos, said in the 911 call.
“Maybe he can stop or do something to surrender,” Ramos said, his voice breaking.
He said his nephew, who had been with him at his house the night before, stayed with him in his room all night and told him he was upset because his grandmother was “bothering” him.
“Oh my God, please, please, don’t do anything stupid,” the man says on the call. “I think he’s shooting the children.”
But the plea came too late, just as the shooting had ended and law enforcement officers killed Salvador Ramos.
Listen to the audio below:
Why KSAT is Releasing Most of Uvalde City’s Images, Audio
KSAT has decided to publish most of the documentation we received to allow the public the opportunity to see what happened that day. The redactions in the documents, the blurring in the videos, and the editing of the audio were done by the City of Uvalde and approved by the attorneys representing all media outlets. Out of respect for the victims’ families, KSAT has chosen not to publish 911 calls from the students inside the school.
Although the video is hard to watch and the audio hard to hear, we made the decision to present everything to our audience as we received it. We believe the public has the right to know what happened that day.
Spanish version of the statement from Laura Prather, President of Haynes Boone Media Law, who leads the litigation:
“We’re thankful the City of Uvalde is taking this step toward transparency. For more than two years, our Haynes Boone team has fought for the release of records related to the tragic mass shooting at Robb Elementary. We’re still waiting on Uvalde CISD, Uvalde County, and Texas DPS to release dozens of interviews, hundreds of body camera videos, and thousands of investigative files. Transparency is necessary to help Uvalde heal and allow us all to understand what happened and learn how to prevent future tragedies.”
Original version:
“We’re thankful the City of Uvalde is taking this step toward transparency. For more than two years, our Haynes Boone team has fought for the release of records related to the tragic mass shooting at Robb Elementary. We’re still waiting on Uvalde CISD, Uvalde County, and Texas DPS to release dozens of interviews, hundreds of body camera videos, and thousands of investigative files. Transparency is necessary to help Uvalde heal and allow us all to understand what happened and learn how to prevent future tragedies.”
(Copyright 2024 by KSAT – All rights reserved.)
Associated Press contributed to this report.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.
Coverage on KSAT.com:
Copyright 2024 by KSAT – All rights reserved.
