Judge Orders Texas Department of Public Safety to Release Uvalde School Shooting Documents

Reggie Daniels pays his respects a memorial at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on June 9, 2022. Eric Gay, File/AP Photo

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) must soon begin releasing public records related to law enforcement’s response to the 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, a district court judge in Austin ruled on June 29.

Judge Daniella Deseta Lyttle agreed with a request made by a string of media outlets, including CNN, CBS, NBC, The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Texas Tribune, and others to release documents related to the deadly massacre after the publications last year sued the state department for failing to do so.

In a lawsuit filed in August, the publications had requested that 911 calls, radio traffic, officer body camera footage, police reports, training materials, and school surveillance footage be released, arguing that failing to publish such information violated state law.

The publications had initially requested the records under the Texas Public Information Act but Uvalde officials and state police had declined to publish them, citing ongoing investigations into the matter, prompting the news outlets to file the lawsuit arguing that this was not the case given that the shooter’s guilt was not in question.

In their lawsuit, the news outlets had argued that the public records needed to be released because both false and misleading statements made by authorities regarding how the police initially responded to the incident have sowed distrust among both the public and the victims of the families.

The release of the records would help bolster transparency and accountability, they said.

A total of two teachers and 19 children aged between 9 and 11 were killed on May 24 when shooter Salvador Ramos entered Robb Elementary and opened fire. Another 18 people were injured.

Police Response Condemned

Law enforcement officials have been widely criticized for their response to the shooting, as has the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District for its handling of the massacre. It took Uvalde Police Department officers 77 minutes to confront and take down Ramos.

A report published shortly after the shooting last year by the Texas state House of Representatives also found that there were “shortcomings, systematic failures, and egregious poor decision making” across the board by both law enforcement and the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District in its handling of the deadly incident.

The records will not be immediately made available following Lyttle’s order. Instead, the judge gave DPS until Aug. 31 to produce a “detailed log” of proposed redactions, and a hearing on those is set for September.

DPS could also choose to appeal the ruling before then and Lyttle ordered both parties to submit proposals for final judgment by July 14.

“As officials continue to shield nearly all information related to the Uvalde tragedy, on the basis of an investigation that has already concluded and a purported prosecution that has yet to materialize, we are thrilled by the Court’s ruling that recognizes the public’s right to know what happened that day,” Laura Lee Prather, a First Amendment lawyer also with Haynes Boone who represents the news organizations, said in a statement to The Texas Tribune.

“Judge Lyttle’s ruling brings the Uvalde community and all Texas citizens one step closer to gaining a complete understanding of what happened that day and moving toward closure,” Prather added.

A string of other lawsuits have been filed against the Uvalde school district and law enforcement officers in the wake of last year’s shooting, including a $27 billion class-action lawsuit filed by survivors against multiple law enforcement officials in the state.

The Epoch Times has contacted the Texas Department of Public Safety for comment.