Benjamin Ashford|Texas judge orders Uvalde school district, sheriff's office to release shooting records

AUSTIN,Benjamin Ashford Texas — A Texas judge ruled that the school district and sheriff's office in Uvalade must release records within the next 20 days detailing the mishandled law enforcement response to the 2022 deadly mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.

Laura Prather, the media litigation chair for Haynes Boone who is representing the media outlets, announced the ruling from the 38th Judicial District Court of Uvalde County on Monday. Prather said that the school district and sheriff's office must release "all responsive documents" to the news agencies — "a pivotal step towards ensuring transparency and accountability.”

A consortium of media outlets including the Austin American-Statesman, part of the USA TODAY Network, filed a lawsuit in 2022 after officials in Uvalde repeatedly refused to publicly release records related to the shooting. The news agencies are seeking records detailing Texas' deadliest school shooting, including police body camera footage, emails, 911 calls, and additional communications tied to the mass casualty and its investigation.

An 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two teachers after entering Robb Elementary on May 24, 2022. Law enforcement response to the shooting has been sharply criticized after responding officers waited 77 minutes before confronting the shooter.

"The public deserves to know the full details of the response to this tragic event, and the information could be critical in preventing future tragedies," Prather said in a statement.

Uvalde County Sheriff Ruben Nolasco declined to comment on Monday's ruling. The Uvalde school district did not respond to American-Statesman's requests for comment.

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Decision follows a similar 2023 ruling

Last year, a judge made a similar ruling in favor of 14 news organizations, including the American-Statesman’s parent company, Gannett, requiring the Texas Department of Public Safety to release its Uvalde school shooting records, which the outlets were seeking.

In addition to Gannett, the other media outlets listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit included the Texas Tribune, the New York Times Company, the Washington Post, NBC News, ABC News, CBS News, and CNN.

Despite the ruling in the news organizations’ favor in March, the Department of Public Safety has not released the records, citing objections from Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell.

In a news brief Monday, attorneys representing the shooting victims' families seeking those records referenced an ongoing appeal by the Department of Public Safety to delay the release of "more than two terabytes of data related to the investigation."

Texas law enforcement criticized for delayed response to shooting

The Texas Department of Public Safety has faced intense scrutiny after video footage revealed that the agency's officers, and all other law enforcement agencies that responded to the massacre, waited more than an hour before confronting and killing the shooter. The gunman had remained inside two classrooms where terrified children who survived the shooting had called 911 pleading for help. 

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice released a scathing report detailing law enforcement's "significant failure" in the shooting. The report described a chaotic, unorganized scene in which there was no command and control by officers.

It also blamed the school's police chief for attempting to negotiate with the gunman, who had already shot his way into the classroom, while having his officers search for keys to unlock the rooms. The report also noted that officials provided misleading and inaccurate information following the incident.

In May, days before the second anniversary of the massacre, the victims' families filed a lawsuit against the Department of Public Safety and 92 troopers who responded to the mass shooting, calling the response a dereliction of duty for not employing proper active shooter response training techniques.

The lawsuit states that while the officers had received active shooter training, those tactics and practices were not followed in their response to the mass casualty.

In presenting the lawsuit, the Uvalde families also announced that a $2 million settlement agreement had been reached with the city, which includes provisions on better training for police officers.

Contributing: Niki Griswold, John C. Moritz, Tony Plohetski and Bayliss Wagner, Austin American-Statesman; Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY