A judge has issued an order for the Texas Department of Public Safety to release various records related to the devastating mass shooting that took place at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde in May 2022. This particular shooting stood out due to the high number of casualties and the widely criticized police response. Despite being on the scene for over an hour, officers only confronted and killed the shooter after he had already murdered 19 children and two teachers. Several media outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, and ABC, filed a lawsuit last year, arguing that the department’s refusal to release the records violated state law.
The department had previously declined to release most of the records, including forensic records, the names of responding personnel, and the training records of the department’s officers. They cited an ongoing investigation by the local district attorney as the reason for withholding the information. However, the news organizations involved in the lawsuit disputed this reasoning, stating that the guilt of the shooter, who acted alone, was not in question. The Texas Tribune, one of the media outlets involved, also joined the lawsuit. On Thursday, US District Court Judge Daniella Deseta Lyttle ruled in favor of the media outlets, stating that the department must release the records. However, the records will not be immediately available to the public.
The department has until August 31 to propose redactions for the records, and a hearing on the proposed redactions is scheduled for September. It is possible that the department may appeal the ruling before then. Attorney Reid Pillifant, representing the plaintiffs, expressed hope that the department would not fight the decision and would prioritize transparency. Pillifant stated, “The public deserves a full account of what happened that day.” Laura Lee Prather, another attorney for the plaintiffs, highlighted the department’s inconsistent accounts of law enforcement’s response and lack of transparency, which has caused suspicion and frustration in the grieving community. (Read more about the Uvalde mass shooting here.)
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