Texas officials agree to release surveillance video from Uvalde school shooting

July 11, 2022 Najuma Wilkinson US 0

Family and friends of those killed and injured in the school shooting at Robb Elementary take part in a protest march and rally, Sunday, July 10, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

OAN NEWSROOM
UPDATED 5:55 PM PT – Monday, July 11, 2022

Texas officials came to an agreement on releasing surveillance video from the Uvalde school shooting. On Monday, state and local agencies reached a compromise regarding the images from the May 24 mass shooting that killed 19 students and two teachers.

“I can tell people all day long what it is I saw, the committee can tell people all day long what we saw, but it’s very different to see it for yourself,” Texas Rep. Dustin Burrows (R) stated.

Law enforcement officers and the mayor of Uvalde have been arguing for weeks on how to handle the delicate matter. They ultimately agreed that some parts of the video should be available to the public.

“This video would be of the hallway footage from Robb Elementary School,” he said. “It would contain no graphic images or depictions of violence. The video would begin after the shooter enters the room and end before a breach of that room, while giving stark insight into what officers did for more than an hour before confronting the gunman that day.”

BREAKING REPORT: Uvalde mayor says he BACKS PLAN to release 77-minute hallway video showing how elementary school massacre unfolded while cops stood by and did nothing…

— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) July 9, 2022

Questions still remain about the time officers arrived on the scene that fateful day and why they waited 77 minutes before breaching the classroom. Over the weekend, Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin accused Uvalde-area District Attorney Christina Busbee of misleading family members about McLaughlin’s support for releasing certain footage that showed the police response during the rampage.

“We do not believe the video’s public release would harm our investigative efforts,” the Public Safety Department’s Deputy Director of Homeland Security Operations Martin Freeman wrote in a letter to Burrows. “In fact, releasing this video would assist us in providing as much transparency as possible to the public.”