Uvalde school district releases records on 2022 shooting after court order

The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District has released records related to the 2022 shooting massacre at Robb Elementary School in Texas. 

Nineteen children and two adults were killed in the shooting. The records were released in a court order requiring them to be handed over to 18 news organizations.

An initial request for the material by the families of the victims from the school district and local officials was unsuccessful. CNN and 17 other news organizations then sued the city of Uvalde, Uvalde CISD, and the county for public information after officials refused to release the records, CNN reported.

The school district had fought to withhold the records that have been requested for three years. The documents include exchanges between officials about victims and their families, the academic and disciplinary record of the shooter, and text messages involving former Uvalde school Police Chief Pete Arredondo.

Uvalde officials were criticized for waiting 77 minutes to confront the shooter at school on the day of the attack, May 24, 2022.

While the officials waited, some children were dead and others wounded inside the school. At least one child called 911 for help while dozens of officers stood in the hallway.

Among the documents released was a slide in an emergency procedures presentation that said “the actions taken in the initial minutes of an emergency are critical.”

The 18 news outlets received a court victory for the release of the records in July 2024, and the city of Uvalde released its records the following month. However, both the county and the school district appealed the trial court's decision. Last month, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the county and school district.

The deadline for the county to release its records is August 18.

Among the released records were survey responses from parents and others asking about safety improvements for the upcoming school year.

“Will anyone be able to just to come in to the school without any notice,” a parent wrote a month after the shooting. The person asked about potentially increasing the number of officers at the school or whether higher fencing will be installed on campus. Some parents called for Arredondo to be fired.

Arredondo was fired by the school district three months after the shooting. Arredondo and former UCISD police officer Adrian Gonzales were later indicted on criminal charges regarding the massacre.

The former chief is facing 10 counts of child endangerment and known criminal negligence, while Gonzales is facing 29 counts of abandoning and endangering a child. Both men have pleaded not guilty.