Text messages reveal police conversations following the Uvalde school shooting
Most of the material released was previously reported by CNN. The files - some of which were redacted - were released only after CNN and more than a dozen other major news organizations filed a lawsuit to obtain public records related to the massacre.
In one of the 911 calls, first reported by CNN in the months after the shooting, a 10-year-old girl trapped in a classroom tells the police dispatcher to “hurry” as there are “a lot of dead bodies.”
The massacre at Robb Elementary School left 19 children and two teachers dead, making it one of the deadliest shootings at a K-12 school in the United States. Law enforcement was heavily criticized for their failed response to the May 2022 incident. While victims lay wounded, it took the 376 law enforcement officers on scene 77 minutes to confront and kill the gunman from the time he entered the school through an unlocked door. More than 90 Texas Department of Public Safety officers responded to the scene and were among the first to arrive.
Officers concerned about their own safety
Among the hundreds of pages of text messages released Saturday, a series of messages show a group of officers expressing fear for their safety in the hours and days after the massacre, as community anger and national questions grew over why victims were left with the gunman for well over an hour.
In the text messages, multiple officers ask for their photos to be removed from the department’s website after they felt like they were being blamed for the failed response.
One group chat mentions, “the DPS director just through [sic] everyone under the bus..!!!” – referring to the Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
“Is there a way to get our pictures off the PD website for our safety..?..take the website down,” one officer wrote.
In a separate text message, one concerned officer questions whether their department Nixle account – a communication system connecting residents with public safety agencies – can be disabled, to which the police chief responds, “There is a work order for that already.”
The police chief also writes, “staff is asking if we can take their photos down from our fb (Facebook) page.” He adds, “Command staff is worried.”
In another group chat, officers remind each other to get some rest and take care of each other.
“Anything I can do to help?” one officer asks. “Rest and relax,” another answers. “That is impossible,” the first officer replies. “Being at home I feel useless,” the officer adds.
In a news conference after the mass shooting, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw said the on-scene commander made the wrong decision and did not attempt quickly enough to breach the classroom where the gunman was. He would later say the first few officers on scene, including local Uvalde Police Department who are seen communicating in the newly released texts, acted against active shooter training by initially retreating and never regaining momentum to take out the shooter.
CNN has reached out to the Texas Department of Public Safety for a response to the officers’ assertions Saturday.
Families say release was long overdue
Families of the victims are expressing anger over just how long it took for law enforcement to release the documents to the public.
Brett Cross’ nephew, Uziyah Garcia, 10, was killed in the May 22 massacre. Cross told The Associated Press families were not given advanced notice of the records being released Saturday but said it was long overdue.
“If we thought we could get anything we wanted, we’d ask for a time machine to go back in time and save our children but we can’t, so all we are asking for is for justice, accountability and transparency, and they refuse to give this to us,” Cross said.
Jesse Rizo, the uncle of Jacklyn Cazares, 9, who was also killed in the shooting, said the document release reignites anger because the documents show just how long law enforcement waited. “Perhaps if they were to have breached earlier, they would have saved some lives, including my niece’s,” he told the Associated Press.
In an interview this week, former Uvalde school police chief Pete Arredondo told CNN he felt he was “scapegoated from the very beginning.” Arredondo was indicted in June by a grand jury and was booked on 10 counts of child endangerment and known criminal negligence for failing to recognize the incident as an active shooting and for failing to take proper action to intervene.
He entered a plea of not guilty to these charges last month, CNN previously reported.
Former school police officer Adrian Gonzales was also indicted on criminal charges related to law enforcements failed response to the shooting. Gonzales entered a plea of not guilty on July 25.
CNN’s Rachel Clarke, Camila Bernal and Amanda Musa contributed to this report.
In the released text messages, some officers express fear for their safety following the massacre due to community anger and questions about the response, leading them to request the removal of their photos from the department's website and Facebook page.
The families of the victims, including Brett Cross whose nephew Uziyah Garcia was killed, are expressing anger over the delay in releasing the documents, claiming it's long overdue and hinders their quest for justice and accountability.
